Lakeview Residents Claim Police Brutality

Shemar Foreman

Four men were brought before the court today where they were slapped with charges of assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and loitering.  Shemar Foreman, Leon Shane Vernon, Dexter Belisle and Leonard Castro were all charged jointly for loitering after police stormed a residence on Lakeview Street where the men were socializing following the carnival road march. Of note is that two of the men, Vernon and Castro, lived there. The arrest of the men came on the heels of a brawl earlier that day on Baymen Avenue. At their arraignment, all four pleaded guilty with an explanation to loitering and so an equivocal not guilty plea was entered on their behalf. Foreman, who claims he was badly injured by one of the officers, says he didn’t deserve such treatment.

Shemar Foreman, Claims Police Brutality

“Saturday night we di come from the carnival and we di buy wah two case and we stop by my gial yard dah Lakeview and me and my gial di talk dah di gate, and dehn bwai haul ina di yard. Di bwai dehn weh mi deh pan street di party noh get beat nor get charge with we. They come fi we weh ina di yard, take we out, start beat we and so we ask dehn weh unu have to do we den yah fah. So they start beat me more. So only thing dehn charge me fah dah loitering. So I ask them weh unu wah charge me fi this if unu noh got nothing fi charge me. Because dehn done beat me now, so they noh want charge me fi di escape out of the truck. I noh know, but this have to stop same way too because we noh di do nothing, we noh di give no trouble or nothing and people know how I rest, yo understand. But we noh di give no trouble and they just come and beat we fi nothing.”

Foreman, Belisle and Vernon were given bail of two hundred dollars and their next court date is set for October twenty-fifth, 2023.