Family believes that Tyson Rodriguez is a victim of police brutality

Rodriguez

You heard the police version of how they found the body of twenty-seven year old Tyson Rodriguez in the sea near the Chabil Mar Villa Resort in the Placencia Peninsula. But there are more questions than answers surrounding the mysterious circumstances under which the Dangriga resident met his horrific end over the weekend.  An autopsy on the body, conducted by forensic pathologist Dr. Mario Estradabran late this afternoon, confirmed that he died as a result of asphyxia.  It rules out that Rodriguez drowned as the police initially reported. The post mortem examination revealed the presence of sand in his lungs.  The family strongly believes that he is the victim of police brutality, citing a number of anomalies in the official account of the incident.  Accompanied by attorney Audrey Matura-Shepherd, who viewed the body prior to the coroner’s inquest, Kieshan Rodriguez told the media that she believes her cousin had been marked for death by members of the police department.

Kieshan Rodriguez, Cousin of Deceased

Kieshan Rodriguez

“One of the police from Dangriga came to my door at about 4:49 a.m. on Saturday and he told me that Tyson had died and I asked him how and he said that it was, he was detained in Corozal with a vehicle and that he had escaped from police and he jumped into a river and he died.  He drowned, you know, and a fisherman found him.  That was what the police told me.  Since then no other reports from police had been given to me, you know, until we found out ourselves now that it wasn’t from drowning.  So the death certificate is not saying drowning.”

Reporter

“What is the certificate saying ma’am?”

Kieshan Rodriguez

“It’s saying asphyxia due to…”

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Attorney

“Right now we will read the whole word to them.”

Kieshan Rodriguez

“He has multiple chest wounds, like fractures and stuff.  Yeah, so it’s not drowning.”

Reporter

“So ma’am, your brother was killed and who do you believe killed him?”

Kieshan Rodriguez

“We believe it was the police since they had him in their custody.  So that’s my final say.”

Reporter

“And ma’am this is the second time your cousin has had an encounter like this with law enforcement.  Do you believe that in a sense he was marked for death because they said, “he da bad man”?”

Kieshan Rodriguez

“Yes, they did.  He said that they told him so many times that they would kill him.  So I guess this is their final outcome, you know, that he is dead now.  So, [that’s] good for them because they said it that they would kill him.”

In March of 2012, Rodriguez was shot in the lower abdomen by Caye Caulker Police. At the time, he was living on that island and police claimed they had found a stash of weed in his home. That incident also came under investigation but the results were never known.