Police promise to assist victim shot by officer

crispin jeffries

This Wednesday will mark one week since thirty seven-year old Stephen Buckley was critically shot by a police officer as he sat with his boss inside a green Dodge Ram at the Cesar Ridge intersection in Belize City. Buckley, a contractor by profession, was hit in the head by bullets from a pump action shotgun that shattered the vehicle’s windshield.  The person holding the gun, Inspector Dennis Lopez, was the man in charge of an operation that night assigned to solving a previous shooting.  Lopez transferred to Belize City as Staff Officer at the Patrol Branch and ironically, he was part of an operation called “Restore Confidence”.  He has claimed that the high powered weapon he held accidentally discharged, but he has since been interdicted from duty pending the outcome of the investigations.  Police Commissioner, Crispin Jeffries says the department is assisting Buckley.

Because Buckley is still alive, Jeffries says the charges against Inspector Lopez can be anywhere from Attempted Murder to Use of Deadly Means of Harm.  Meanwhile, because Lopez is an Inspector, the finer details of his interdiction, such as salary and benefits will have to be determined by the Services Commission.

Crispin Jeffries, Commissioner of Police

“We’re very worried about the medical condition of Buckley.  We’ve been speaking to the family and we have come to some decisions that we will assist as much as possible with the medical condition.  As it relates to the actual investigation, Inspector Lopez has been put on interdiction and we are in consultation with the DPP as we speak to see if we can get some directives from her whether we go ahead and press charges at this time, but it is more than likely that charges can be laid and can be pressed and we can deal with it.”

Marion Ali

“What is Inspector Lopez claiming?”

Crispin Jeffries

“He’s claiming that the firearm went off accidentally.”

Marion Ali

“Is that possible Sir?  From the little that I’ve heard about that kind of firearm, you have to actually pull the trigger and it also a safety.”

Crispin Jeffries

“I would not want to debate on that. Those are the critical questions that one would be recorded and held liable to be making such assumptions.  Accidents do occur, and I’m not saying that it could not have been an accident but I don’t think that a trained inspector of police who has served both in the Police, the Coastguard, the B.D.F. would deliberately cock a weapon and fire into a vehicle like that unless he feels threatened, and I don’t think that was the situation.”