Dangriga man says cops beat him in hospital bed …
Accusations of police brutality are commonplace on this newscast, but tonight there is a particularly serious allegation coming out of Dangriga. Among the list of crimes in this morning’s police blotter was a small paragraph on the arrest of thirty year old taxi driver, Rhold Henry, for the crimes of Aggravated Assault, Threat of Death, Threatening Words, Damage to Property, and Use of Indecent Words against Keith Cruz. It seemed straightforward enough, that is until we received a statement from attorney Antoinette Moore who represents Henry, saying her client has lodged a complaint of misconduct with the police Internal Affairs unit against Cruz, who happens to be a police constable, and Sergeant Reymundo Reyes. According to Moore, around two-thirty on Friday afternoon, her client was in the Riverside area of Dangriga when he became embroiled in an argument with the off-duty Cruz, during which the officer used Henry’s own knife to stab him in the thigh. The victim said he was left to bleed for twenty minutes before he was taken for treatment at the Southern Regional Hospital by some other officers who came on the scene. But that was only the beginning as the release went on to allege that just hours later, while Henry was recuperating in the hospital, three officers including Cruz and Reyes, went into his room. Cruz then handcuffed Henry to his bed and proceeded to beat him with a shotgun. According to Moore, the incident is one of the most outrageous cases of official abuse she has ever encountered.
Kendra Griffith
“What prompted such a strong response? What was this argument about?”
Antoinette Moore, Attorney for Rhold Henry (Via Phone)
“He said that a gentleman had taken his taxi and owed him money, hadn’t paid him and that this gentleman is a friend of the police officer who eventually stabbed him and then came to the hospital later and attacked him. This gentleman who he had the initial dispute with is a friend of the police officer. I assume that that is what prompted the police officer going to him because it was the police officer who initiated the dispute.”
“According to Mr. Henry, he took out a gun and Mr. Henry then took out a knife to protect himself. The police officer, who was not on duty, who was in plain clothes, he then called other police officers over. He saw a police officer in a car and he called him over and the police then handcuffed Mr. Henry at which point, Police Constable Cruz took the knife out of Mr. Henry’s hand, cutting his hand and literally just stabbed him in his leg. He was handcuffed at the time that happened. However, this is even more outrageous than the normal situation of police brutality because they entered the hospital, a place where there to be healed and be treated by doctors. They entered the hospital, knowing other persons were around, even though it was two a.m. in the morning. There were doctors, there were nurses, there were other patients there. It’s just very difficult to believe that they thought they would do this and get away with it, that they thought somehow this was acceptable or tolerable.”
Moore says her client will be seeking criminal charges against Cruz and will also be filing a notice of intention to sue. According to Moore, while Sergeant Reyes may not have physically harmed Henry, he was present in the hospital room during the beating and as a senior officer should have stopped the abuse from occurring.
P.C. Cruz’s version of the event is that he and a friend, Carlos Martinez, were riding in the Riverside area when Henry assaulted them both with a knife and damaged their bicycle. The attack prompted a struggle in which Henry was stabbed in the leg. Police in Dangriga say that while Henry made a verbal complaint, they have not received an official statement or his medico-legal form.
