By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A POLICE officer was unjustified in shooting a 22-year-old man to death in the Nassau Village community two years ago, a jury has found.

A jury unanimously found that Osworth Rolle Jr’s death at the hands of Detective Constable 3569 Kendrick Brown on November 30, 2016 was an unlawful killing.

Director of Public Prosecutions Garvin Gaskin will be the one to ultimately determine whether D/C Brown will now face criminal charges based on yesterday’s verdict.

Nonetheless, Rolle’s mother, Christina Moss-Rolle, told The Tribune after the ruling: “God is good. To God be the glory. Great things he has done.”

Rolle was shot about the body multiple times after being said to have pointed a weapon at officers during a police foot chase in the Nassau Village area. An autopsy report prepared by Forensic Pathologist Dr Caryn Sands said Rolle died from three bullet wounds—two to either side of his face and the other to the chest.

All of the bullets travelled downwards in Rolle’s body, and each of the injuries they caused were potentially fatal, Dr Sands said. Dr Sands also noted that given Rolle’s height and that of D/C Brown, as well as the circumstances surrounding the shooting, the downward trajectories of the bullets were unusual. 

However, Rolle wasn’t the person police were originally after. Police said they were actually after Nathaniel Miller, who they believed could help with attempted murder investigations.

During previous proceedings, Detective Sergeant Dwayne Delancy said testified before Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez how on December 2, 2016, while he was on duty at the Central Detective Unit (CDU), he was given instructions to continue an investigation into a police-involved shooting that occurred just days before in Nassau Village.

Det Sgt Delancy said he met with Sergeant Ferguson and Detective Constables Brown and Storr, who were involved in the shooting. During those conversations, he said, the three officers gave similar accounts about what had happened.

Det Sgt Delancy said the officers told him that shortly after noon on November 30, they went to house No. 8 on Lee Street, Nassau Village after receiving information that Miller was at that location. 

Upon arriving at the residence and heading to the rear, it was further claimed the three officers announced themselves to a group of men gathered in that area. After doing so, the group of men ran in a northern direction towards some bushes.

Det Sgt Delancy said he was told that two of the men, one being Miller and the other being Rolle, produced “chrome coloured” handguns and pointed them in the direction of the police.

Det Sgt Delancy said Sgt Ferguson claimed that upon seeing the weapons brandished by Rolle and Miller, he stopped his pursuit of the men. However, both Brown and Storr drew their service pistols and fired in the direction of the two gunmen.

Rolle was consequently shot multiple times about the body and fell to the ground. 

Meanwhile, Det Sgt Delancy said he was told Miller and the other men ran into the northern bushes. However, he said he was informed that Miller and the other men, namely a juvenile, Quinton Rolle and Raymond Albury, were pursued to the bushes by a team of other officers and later arrested.

Det Sgt Delancy said when he interviewed Miller, he said he was at his home raking up leaves when the police arrived. After he heard gunshots, he said he ran into some bushes. He claimed he never saw the deceased with a gun, nor did he see when he was shot.

The officer said the juvenile, when interviewed with his mother present, said he ran after the police fired the shots. And while running, he said he saw Rolle, who was known to him, reach into his waist and pull out a chrome-coloured handgun. 

However, the juvenile said he continued running and did not see when Rolle got shot because he was ahead of him.

Meanwhile, Quinton Rolle claimed that when the police arrived, one of them ordered him to get on the ground, to which he complied. He said the other men who were with him, including the deceased, ran. 

Quinton Rolle said one of the officers stayed with him while he was on the ground. He said he later heard what sounded like two gunshots, before he heard one of the officers shout, “He point a gun at me!” 

However, Quinton Rolle said he did not witness the shooting because he was face down on the ground.

Det Sgt Delancy said Albury, when interviewed, claimed he ran when the police arrived because he was in possession of marijuana. Albury also said he did not see when Rolle got shot.

Detective Sergeant Mario Darrell, a crime scene investigator, said when he arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting, he was led to the rear of the residence near a bushy area where he observed Rolle’s lifeless body lying on the western side of an unfinished building with gunshot wounds to the head and upper body, a black tam hanging on a tree, and a white cellphone.

On the left side of the deceased was a black and silver pistol.

Det Sgt Darell said after making his observations, and after another officer took photos of the entire area, he collected and secured the firearm. After doing so, he said he discovered that the gun was a Millennium G2 9mm pistol, with 12 unfired 9mm bullets in the magazine, and one unfired 9mm bullet in the chamber.

Det Sgt Darell said he took the firearm back to the Criminal Records Office and processed it for latent prints, a process that yielded negative results. However, he explained that it would be almost impossible to have left fingerprints from the lower portion of the gun, which, he said, was made of a coarse, plastic material, and not smooth.

Another witness testified how he and a number of males were smoking marijuana in the yard in question, when someone yelled out that “the man” had showed up. About two to three seconds later, the witness said the officers “simply started shooting”. That, the witness said, prompted the group to run through a nearby shortcut and then to some nearby bushes, while he hid nearby. 

Ramona Farquharson-Seymour represented the family of the deceased. Bjorn Ferguson represented the three officers involved in the shooting.