Placencia Police in hot seat over death of Tyson Rodriguez
The police are in the hot seat for the death of twenty-seven year old Tyson Rodriguez? Rodriguez died while in police custody on Friday night in Placencia. His relatives say they believe he was murdered and the post mortem results issued to the family and their lawyer, Audrey Matura Shepherd, suggests that it was not a case of sudden death. According to that report, the Dangriga resident died as a result of asphyxiation from sand found in his lungs. Immediately following the questionable circumstances under which Rodriguez met his demise, Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie sent Assistant Superintendent Humberto Romero of the Criminal Investigations Branch and Assistant Commissioner, Noel Leal of the Professional Standards Branch to conduct both an internal and a criminal investigation. Interviews and statements have been recorded from the officers who were in the company of Rodriguez before his death and a file was created. That file according to Police Press Officer, Raphael Martinez, was today forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, for her directives. According to Inspector Flowers, to his knowledge, none of his officers have since been placed on interdiction, but if responsible, his officers will have to answer for their actions.
Reporter
“The post mortem is saying that contrary to that that he did not drowned, but instead inhaled sand. What does that indicate? That he was killed before he was dumped in the water? What does that indicate?”
Via Phone: Insp. Mark Flowers, O.C., Placencia Police Formation
“Umm, I will not speculate. What I can say with certain is that I will not, have not and will not preside over any extra-judicial activities. I am leaving the investigation, as far as you know; that is being led by other officers from out of the district and I think that that is being done precisely to avoid the latitude that they will need to do their investigation. They don’t need the speculation from me or anybody else. I really would not speculate on what it means or interpret; I might be wrong.”
Reporter
“Twenty minutes before his body was found, he was in the company of officers under your command and the brief that was given to you says that he jumped from the police vehicle and ran into a swampy area. Now, with that, what does that say to the incident and your officer? If your officers are implicated, what is your stance on that?”
Via Phone: Insp. Mark Flowers
“I have no stance on that. The law is very specific, it is very clear. It is not for me to make a stance; it is not for me to do. The things we do or the things that we fail to do, we account for them personally. Every person is responsible for his or her own act. The things that we do or the things that we fail to do will either inculpate us or exculpate us in as far as the law is concerned and I don’t think that I am being unreasonable to say that if it falls where they may; that is a matter for the investigators.”
on less criminal, God bless the police force
which criminal next, we hope his accomplice
lets stand by our police force and show our support for a good job done.
You can’t feel sorry for someone like that. What he did, you can say he got what he deserved…..
Cry me a river – one less criminal for the lawyers to set free so him could come hurt more people. Boo hoo hoo. This is one time I really not going to cry over police action. Nobody doing anything to help the people this criminal hurt and now we should cry for him?
seriously my fellow Belizeans, did you see wat dis person n his companions did to the permatourists. i’m not saying he deserved wat he gat but tink of the “WAT IF” possibilities had he stayed alive. more ppl wud hav been hurt in the future, dis was not a nice person so idk y his family crying police brutality. my POV, one less criminal to deal with n stagnate our already messed up courts
I’m already forgetting this one since it’s something we wanted to happen period, one less on the street to harm the civilians.
What I would like to see is how the victims of this man are doing. Why not do a follow up story on that. I do not care to see any more on this fellow. As stated by the other posters, he got what he deserved. So step up channel 5…you guys always do a great job…lets see how the victims are doing…my deepest sympathy to the true victims……
Now rodriguez , karma is really a …….. U see what u do u will pay!!
Police should never allowed to be judge, jury and executioner!
Notwithstanding this fellow is from the dregs of society.
We would like to live in Belize also and hope that the police and the justice system will develop a zero tolerance for robbery and violence. The prematurity like ourselves are creating work for people in the service industry and adding to the economy of BZ. But, we must feel safe if we are to love here.
Correction to the above. The people from other countries that live in Placencia are creating work and supporting the economy in BZ and need to feel safe living there. Please create a zero tolerance for violence and robbery
My brother tyson died because of the police even though he thief the police shouldn’t have killed him only he do their beda use of our father and I blame my father too because he’s mean to his children….Christopher Bernard Williams