Life after the bullet

Overwhelmed by a swirl of emotions and thoughts of what could have been, Janice Hines is grappling to rebuild her life eight years after the cab passenger was shot during a police chase while on her way to work.

Hines, then 21, was shot when cops fired at the taxi during a high-speed chase along the Mount Salem main road in St James. She was eagerly awaiting a second child with her partner, but lost the unborn child during the traumatic event.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner last week, Hines broke her silence on the January 22, 2016 event that changed her life and took “everything” away from her.

She recalled that she was on her way to her job at a call centre, when the taxi driver ignored a traffic stop, leading to a pursuit by an unmarked police vehicle.

“I mentioned to the driver that there was police coming and [he] started to go faster,” said Hines.

“The police started to shoot. I felt something stick me in the back, and because there was an explosion, I told the driver that I think I got shot. I felt [the area of] my back where I was feeling the tension and I felt liquid so I realised that I actually got shot,” she recalled, noting that the cab driver finally yielded to pleas to stop the vehicle.

Terrified for her own life and that of her unborn child, Hines described how she swiftly identified herself and sought help from the cops who emerged from the unmarked police vehicle.

“The two officers came out of the vehicle and I said, ‘Officer, why did you shoot me?’ There [was] an officer in brown and he told me to come with him to the hospital,” Hines recounted.

She was admitted to the nearby Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), where she spent roughly five days.

Hines said that while she knew her life was forever altered, she was devastated to learn that her unborn child did not survive the ordeal.

“I was feeling pain, so I went to my doctor and it was mentioned that I had lost the baby. I was so traumatised and depressed,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Following the incident, Anthony Castelle, then a senior superintendent of police in St James at the time, was charged with unlawful wounding and misconduct in a public office. He was found guilty of unlawful wounding on November 23, 2018. A month later, he was ordered to pay a $1 million fine or spend 30 days in prison.

Castelle was admonished and discharged on the misconduct charge.

However, Hines told The Sunday Gleaner that she has yet to see justice in the form of compensation for the traumatic event that not only cost the life of her unborn child but also left her struggling with depression and paranoia.

With the bullet still lodged in her body and a deep fear of public transportation, she has been unable to hold a job. She has also learned that she may never be able to have another child.

“Eight years later and still nothing. I have to go to the doctor to check on myself and all of those bills are on me. I am not working because each time I get a job, I am not able to complete [my duties] because of pain. I have breathing problems and I have pain where the bullet is lodged under the breast. It has just been a rollercoaster for me,” Hines lamented.

She added: “I don’t take public transportation anymore. I now have a fear of going into a public passenger vehicle and I really do not trust the police because of what happened.”

Meanwhile, in 2022, Hines’ attorney, Shelly-Ann Hyman, filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking compensation for her client. Hyman recently informed our news team that the last court date was in April of this year, when they were given a date for mediation with the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC). The mediator was reportedly experiencing some difficulties and requested that the session be postponed, but since then, they have not been able to get a response from the AGC to schedule a new session.

Hines told The Sunday Gleaner that the incident has taken a toll on her finances, leaving the father of her 12-year-old son as the breadwinner.

“It has been a really rough patch for me because I can’t afford the necessities. ... I have a child and I am not able to provide the basic things for him,” she lamented.

“I am pretty sure that if I was working, I could have gotten the money from NHT (National Housing Trust) to purchase a house,” Hines bemoaned.

She said that her days are also now filled with worry and anxiety.

“I was happy and full of life before because I didn’t have to think about a bullet being lodged in my body … and that it can move at any time. Now, for me, I am just thinking that I want my child to reach 18 before anything happens to me. That is what’s always on my mind now because if it’s raining, I am feeling pain. If it’s hot, I still feel pain so I have to constantly think about that,” said Hines.

“The main thing now is to be compensated, so I can get on with my life and achieve some things that I was robbed of,” she added.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com