3 Police Officers Charged in Connection With Death of Andrew Alexander McDougal

Police have arrested and charged three of their fellow law enforcement officers in connection with the death of Andrew McDougal back in December 2022. McDougal succumbed to injuries he sustained after being thrown into the pan of a police mobile while being detained. As a result, police formally arrested and charged twenty-nine-year-old John Lucas and twenty-five-year-old Jameel Lewis for manslaughter. Additionally, twenty-three-year-old Tessa Stuart was charged for perverting the course of justice. Today, all three officers were arraigned inside the Independence Magistrates Court, where Tessa Stuart pleaded not guilty and was offered bail in the sum one thousand dollars. No pleas were heard from John Lucas and Jameel Lewis; both were remanded until the twenty-seventh of March. We heard from Commissioner of Police Chester Williams late this evening on this latest arrest.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

Chester Williams

“We continue to demonstrate that when it comes to police misconduct we are not going to shield none of our own. It serves us no good to do so. Police officers are trained to preserve life, not to take life. We are trained to be civil to the people we serve, not to beat up on them. So, when police officer behaves in a matter they did with the McDougal matter they ought to be held responsible. So, what we did was a thorough investigation. We submitted the files to the DPP and today we received instructions from that office to proceed with charges of manslaughter against those officers and another officer was charged for perverting the course of justice because it was established that she lied in her statement. We want to be as transparent as we can to show the public we are serious about our own when they step out of line.”