Three claim police brutality after high speed chase

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, three men were taken into custody by police following a high speed chase in downtown Belize City. And now twenty-seven year old, Tyrone Broaster, twenty-four year old Michael Young, and twenty-three year old Godfrey Hemsley are claiming that they were beaten by police while in custody. Broaster, a resident of West Canal Street, was taken to the K.H.M.H. where he received six stitches for a wound on his head. According to Broaster, the wound was inflicted by a police officer who struck him in his head with the butt of his gun. As for Hemsley, he alleges that the police dragged him through the streets which caused abrasions on his right forearm; while Young claims he was beaten. Grace Flowers, mother of Tyrone Broaster, has made a formal complaint to the Internal Affairs Unit and is also claiming that the police fired a shot at the door of the vehicle Broaster was driving. The vehicle is currently impounded by police. While on a mobile patrol at around one-thirty a.m. police say they heard two shots and saw two persons running from Church Street heading towards Bishop Street. They spotted a Jeep Cherokee leaving the area racing up Church Street against the flow of traffic and stopped short when it collided into a parked vehicle. Police then detained Broaster, Hemsely, and Young. The three men appeared in Magistrates’ Court today and were charged with the crime of Discharging a Firearm in Public to which they all pleaded not guilty. They were released on bail of seven hundred and fifty dollars each and their case was adjourned until October eighth.