City Man Critical after Stabbing; Did Responders Move Too Slow?

A near-fatal stabbing incident on Tuesday night has left one person hospitalized at the K.H.M.H. and friends with whom he was socializing, in earnest fear of their lives.  Raheem Ellington was called out of an apartment where he was visiting at the corners of Tibruce Street and Marigold Lane, brutally attacked and left for dead inside the residence.   According to Caleb Orozco, who is a friend of the stabbing victim, when police and emergency responders arrived on the scene of the incident, they were particularly sluggish in investigating the matter and administering aid to the hemorrhaging victim.  Police have been unable to make an arrest and say that they are awaiting information from witnesses in order to proceed with the case.

Caleb Orozco

Caleb Orozco, Friend of Stabbing Victim

“What happened is that there was a bit of hanging out and one particular person, the victim came, or arrived at the residence and two fellows who were not, I should say, confident of themselves.  They began to get worried and they pulled the fellow outside and it was on the porch that the victim experienced the stabbing.  Proceeding to that, the persons, the owners of the house were worried that they were still there and they would come after them, so they kept yelling for family members and it was a sister who finally came out to confirm that the fellows had gone.  Someone called the police and the ambulance and when the police arrived, the observation shared was that officers stepped in and stepped out watching these fellows trying to save the particular victim because he is their friend.  And essentially, about twenty minutes or so later, the ambulance showed up, but the interesting thing about the ambulance person who arrived was that he was taking his slow time to pull open a particular pocket to deal with the excessive bleeding and it was one of the witnesses who had to cuss him up to move a little faster, grab the item and apply pressure.  That to me, I felt is just a shame, that we would have an emergency call and there is no emergency when the response arrived.  The second thing I realized is that the police have a habit of watching people die without any urgency of addressing the medical condition of the person.”

ASP Alejandro Cowo, O.C., C.I.B., Belize City

“What police gathered so far is that he was socializing there with a group of male persons when three persons arrived at the same location and they continued with the socializing and as a result an argument ensued between the three persons that came afterwards and between them they caused the injuries to [Mr. Ellington].  He was admitted in a critical condition and is presently still in a critical condition at the hospital at this moment.”