Legislator arrested for assaulting cops
On Friday he was in top form on the floor of the National Assembly, but this afternoon Collet Area Representative Patrick Faber was in another Belmopan forum, this time in the role of the accused. Cops in the nation’s capital hauled Faber before the Magistrate’s Court to answer to charges of two counts each of assault and using indecent words to the police. The charges arose out of an incident on the night of November twenty-second at a football game at the Isidoro Beaton Stadium in Belmopan. Faber says that while he may have stepped out of line, the whole incident is clearly a case of provocation started by the police.
Patrick Faber, Area Rep., Collet
“Apparently, they did not know that I was a member of the House and they simply treated me the way they treated any other criminal out there. In fact, in the way that many Belizeans know the police to treat people. And in fact, one of the officers actually wrong and strong me, put his hand around my neck from backwards and burst my lips. So in fact they were the ones who had an assault against me. Apart from that I think a bit of politics is involved in it, the whole way in which the summons was served on me. They set up a roadblock on Friday after House meeting, apparently to serve me summons paper and so on. So I think there’s a bit of politics involved in it.”
“I was very upset. I will not try to hide that, I may have said a few things that I should not have said and I take full responsibility for that.”
Patrick Jones
“You said earlier that the police didn’t realize that you were a member of the House of Representatives. Because of that status, did you expect the police to treat you differently that they would have treated me lets say?”
Patrick Faber
“No, all I’m saying is that in everyday society out there, in fact there have been cases before, right here in fact one time, right in front of my office here they were harassing a member of my constituency and I tried to step in. But of course, once they don’t know who you are, once you are not anybody of power and authority, the police have a tendency and all Belizeans I believe are aware of that, where they try to use excessive force, where they use foul language; in fact at that game the police engaged in foul language along with me. So if they are charging me for that too, they should be charged themselves for they way they conduct themselves.”
Faber has pleaded not guilty to the charges and made bail of eight hundred and fifty dollars. He is to reappear in court on January twentieth.
