Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Two cops transferred after ‘beating’ suspect – as OPR investigates
Kaieteur News – Two police ranks attached to the Parfaite Police Station on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD) were transferred to another location because they are currently under investigation for allegedly assaulting a 24-year-old man on Tuesday last.
Screen grab from the video showing the ranks attack on Osborne.
The young man, Nicholas Osborne, was reportedly assaulted while the ranks were arresting him allegedly being in possession of quantity of cannabis/marijuana.
Osborne told Kaieteur News during an interview that on the day of the incident, he was riding his bicycle in the Wales Community when he was approached by two men in a white car. According to him, at the time he was not aware the men were policemen due to the fact they were wearing plain clothing and they had never identified themselves as police when approaching.
All he knew he was being arrested for allegedly having “weed” in his possession as the officers claimed.
In the process of arresting him, Osborne claimed that the officers launched a brutal attack on him, hitting him about his head and body and stamping on his chest.
During the assault, he said one of the men used an object he suspected to be a gun to hit him about his head.
In a two minute long video of the arrest seen by this publication, Osborne can be seen being beaten by the men, one in a red and white attire and the other in red and black, before being pushed into a white pick-up.
Osborne’s mother (name provided) who spoke with this newspaper said if the police claimed they were arresting her son for having cannabis, they could have done so without launching a brutal attack on him.
Osborne said because of the beating he received, he now suffers from severe pain in his chest, head and foot.
“Police are claiming that they hold my son with weed and I know if you hold somebody with weed, you suppose to take them into custody and not police brutality,” the woman argued.
She said, following the beating her son received, she met with the Commander of Region Three and the Top Cop, Clifton Hickens, who informed her that the matter will be investigated.
Osborne’s mother added that she does not think it is right what the police did to her son because he did not attack them or resisted arrest.
The woman is calling for justice for her son and is urging that a thorough investigation be conducted into the matter because she believes no one should be made to suffer a beating like that from the police while being arrested.
Regarding the reports of the assault committed on Osborne, Commander of Region Three Mahendra Siwnarine, informed this publication that the two ranks in the video were transferred from Parfaite Police Station to another location, pending the outcome of the investigation.
He added too, that the matter is currently being investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at Leonora Police Station.
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