High speed chase rocks Belize City
It looked like a scene out of a FOX TV cop show, but the wild chase took place in Belize City and not L.A. The suspect pursued by police was Hugh “Angel” Thomas, a man, who according to relatives, has had a number of run-ins with the cops.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Thomas was drinking with friends at the Coral Grove Gas Station on Saturday night. While leaving the gas station, Thomas’ truck knocked into another vehicle, in what appeared to be a normal fender bender. The police are not saying why it happened, but they went in a high-speed chase all over the south side of Belize City with gunshots being fired.
Paul Rodriguez, Ombudsman
“When I went into the area where the police were. There was no shooting. There were officers with weapons, but of course I’ve gotten there awhile after the incident had started. So I actually did not see the ramming of the vehicle, but I saw the police vehicle that had been rammed.”
“Apparently the matter started from Coral Groves Gas Station. The police had put up their lights to ask the person who was in the truck to stop and to yield to the police. Apparently he didn’t and the police chased after him. They went all the way to the south side by the port around Caesar Ridge. The area around Caesar Ridge and Faber’s Road was the area in which Mr. Castillo, the investigator in the Ombudsman Office, got caught in between.”
Lionel Castillo of the Ombudsman’s Office was driving in the area, when he was almost run over by the vehicles in the pursuit. Because police knew who he was, they asked him to accompany them to Thomas’s house.
Lionel Castillo, Investigator, Ombudsman’s Office
“Mr. Rosado who saw me, asked me to please come with him. He spoke to the gentleman, and told him “Throw down your firearm if you have any, come out with your hands up and we’ll take you in for certain things.” He didn’t say exactly what they wanted him for, but he knew. Apparently he was under a lot of influence. I don’t know if he had any drugs, but the nature and state he was in and because of the recklessness with which he was driving… The police did not use any force, when I was there. When they were at the house, the police did not go in. When I arrived on the scene, Mr. Rosado told them to stand down. They were waiting for the instructions from Miss Murray, who was the officer commanding the whole unit and apparently she did not give the order to go inside, so they did not go in.”
The Ombudsman and his assistant did not see any force being used, but people on the street, who are afraid to come on camera, all say that the police were firing many gunshots in the air.
Witness
“I see a high speed chase round and around, down Caesar Ridge, go down the boulevard, come down back Faber’s Road with a big truck, and the police behind it. At certain spots you heard gunshots and X amount, at least ten at a time.”
Jose Sanchez
“What happened when he got out there?”
Witness
“A police car pulled up behind him and went to the truck, it was dark there by the seaside…”
Jose Sanchez
“Could you see if they had any weapons drawn?”
Witness
“The police, all of them had guns that night.”
The chase ended on Kraal Road when Thomas crashed his truck into the sea and escaped into his yard. He was talking with law enforcement from his yard, but he eventually decided to flee the scene, perhaps after police shot and killed one of his dogs. Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.
Family members say that Thomas will turn himself in to authorities on Tuesday in the company of his lawyer, Lutchman Sooknandan.
