INDECOM probes municipal cop’s shooting of car tyre
Published:Saturday | June 26, 2021 | 12:05 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has launched a probe into an incident in Montego Bay on Tuesday in which a police officer assigned to the St James Municipal Corporation reportedly fired a shot into a motorist’s car tyre in a bid to disable the vehicle.
In the incident, in which a female municipal police officer was reportedly hit by the car in question, a vehicle belonging to the corporation was reportedly used to block the car, which was being driven by 26-year-old Alex Megee. He was reportedly injured after his car was disabled and he was being dragged from the vehicle.
Car chase
Reports are that shortly after 4 p.m., a team of municipal officers were seizing goods from illegal vendors along a section of Church Street when Megee’s car hit a female officer and he continued driving. His car was reportedly chased by other municipal personnel, who surrounded it, and one of the officers shot the car’s tyre with his licensed firearm.
Megee reportedly resisted while he was being dragged from his vehicle and sustained injuries while being wrestled to the ground by the officers.
The injured female municipal officer and Megee were taken to the hospital, where he was treated and released into the custody of the police and the officer admitted.
Errol Chattoo, the director of complaints at INDECOM (West), told The Gleaner that “INDECOM is investigating the case under which the municipal police discharged his weapon to determine whether or not the discharge of his weapon was done under normal circumstances”.
When contacted, Shane Dalling, chairman of the Firearm Licensing Authority, said he was yet to get a report on the incident and could not comment on whether the officer was permitted to use his private firearm for work.
“Persons apply for firearms based on different reasons. Now, to tell you that a municipal police does not have the firearm for the purpose of work, I could not say that without first ascertaining the basis on which the particular person acted,” said Dalling. “There are various persons who have private firearms, who have it for a particular purpose as to how they applied for it, so this is why I can’t make a comment unless I know the particular case.”