Police Launch Internal and Criminal Probe into Fatal Beat Down

Joseph Myvett

Police, meanwhile, say that after one a.m. they responded to reports that a man had chopped three persons in Silk Grass Village on the Southern Highway. The chopping victims had been rushed to the Southern Regional Hospital while police searched for their alleged attacker, Salvadoran national, thirty-year-old Rene Godoy. In the process of subduing Godoy, relatives allege that he was badly beaten by villagers as police stood watch.  Assistant Commissioner of Police Joseph Myvett says that an internal and criminal investigation is ongoing.

ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch

“Police conducted searches in the village where this male person was located on the balcony of a second floor building where in the process of persuading him to come down, stones and bottles were thrown at the police and villagers. He was eventually brought down and subdued and in the process, he received some facial injuries and was transported to the Southern Regional Hospital where the other two persons who had received chopped wounds were being attended to. One hour and a half later, he succumbed to his injuries whilst inside the compound of the Southern Regional Hospital.”

Reporter

“A mob chased him and he ended up on the second floor?”

ACP Joseph Myvett

“Yes, the villagers were trying to get him down along with the two officers who initially responded to the scene.”

Reporter

“So now that a man has died, how do you go about investigating this incident being that more than one person inflicted these injuries on him?”

ACP Joseph Myvett

“Definitely since early this morning, the police have launched an intensive criminal investigation as well as an internal investigation will also be done. What I can say is that he was in conversation with the police until the time he reached the hospital and sometime later was found motionless.”