‘I can’t walk after I was beaten by police’

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A MAN from Eleuthera is unable to walk and has had surgery on his right leg after police officers allegedly slammed him to the ground at the Harbour Island Police Station in October.

Demetrius Pyfrom, 21, said he has not been charged with a crime and is calling the incident an act of police brutality.

His childhood friend, 25-year-old Alonzo Pinder, said he was finishing up a day’s work on October 27 when six of his co-workers screamed his name to alert him to what was happening on the opposite side of the road at the Harbour Island Police Station.

“My team was calling my name to let me be aware of what was going on,” he said. “When I ran out, I heard it clearly, (Demetrius) was screaming my name.”

Mr Pinder said there was much commotion inside the station and the sounds troubled him.

“If you heard it, you would’ve felt so bad,” he said. “It sounded like someone was getting tortured, like you about to get tied up and someone about to get a machine to cut your hand off.”

Mr Pinder said he tried to enter the building, but all the doors were locked.

Mr Pyfrom, meanwhile, said police arrested him because of stolen golf cart batteries.

“The police station itself has surveillance cameras on the outside and parts of the interior that would have recorded (what happened) as I entered the station,” he said in a statement sent to The Tribune. “But I was moved from that room to the courtroom where there weren’t any cameras.”

Mr Pyfrom said after asking him for stolen batteries, police became angry and asked him to lie on the floor.

He said: “I asked why lay on the ground, why can’t I just sit in a chair if I’m being interviewed? There were about 12 chairs in the room at the time.

“That is when (an officer) began punching me in the stomach and slapping me to the face and pushed me into the main courtroom door causing the door to open and the persons that were on the outside (with Mr Pinder) became aware of what was happening to me and began to make noise about how I was being treated and abused,” he alleged.

Mr Pyfrom said an officer closed the door and accused him of trying to leave the police station.

“I was then pushed onto a table,” he said. “(An officer) then grabbed me by the hands as (another officer) grabbed both my legs. It was then when I was placed in the air and slammed to the floor on my right side where I felt a severe pain to my right hip and leg. I never got back up again after the impact of being slammed to the ground. I cried out in pain for a doctor and both officers began to laugh, taking it for a joke.

“The first person to make it to the station was my mother who was in tears after seeing me on the floor and hearing what had happened to me.”

Mr Pyfrom said officers eventually contacted a nurse. The nurse, he said, requested he be taken to Spanish Wells for an X-ray.

He said after the X-ray was done, a female doctor at the Spanish Wells clinic told him his pelvic bone and hip bone appeared to be dislocated and broken.

He said he was emergency airlifted by Flamingo Air to New Providence and rushed to the Princess Margaret Hospital.

“The next day,” he said, “a CT scan and other X-rays were done to assess my injuries. After receiving the results, the doctor asked me if I was in a motorcycle accident, stating that I had to take a great amount of force to break and dislocate my bones in such a way. I also had to undergo surgery on my right leg to put my leg back in place. I spent a week in Accident and Emergency and was later moved to male surgical.”

Mr Pyfrom said he was discharged from the Princess Margaret Hospital on November 13 and was given a knee immobiliser. He said he began therapy on November 19.

“Almost two months later,” he said, “a statement was never taken by the arresting officers, nor have I been told that any charges are being brought against me.”

Mr Pyfrom said he was released from prison last year after being sentenced to eight months for a housebreaking incident. His friend, Mr Pinder, said he is no stranger to run-ins with the law, but insisted he would do nothing to warrant a brutal attack.

Mr Pyfrom has hired a lawyer to represent him. His lawyer said yesterday that he is analysing his client’s medical records as he prepares to build a case.

When contacted for comment, Assistant Commissioner of Police Audley Peters said the matter should be in the “purview of the police complaints” unit.

Comments

joeblow says...

I hate one sided stories!
Journalism is dead!

Posted 24 December 2020, 8:21 a.m. Suggest removal

xtreme2x says...

then you should not read.The police was contacted to give their side...but did not.

**When contacted for comment, Assistant Commissioner of Police Audley Peters said the matter should be in the “purview of the police complaints” unit.**

Posted 24 December 2020, 10:13 a.m. Suggest removal

joeblow says...

... I hate one sided stories....!

Posted 24 December 2020, 11:37 a.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

the difference here is there are witnesses. The video should show people running to the door trying to open it indicating they were alerted to something troubling happening on the inside of the station. What's most troubling is there isn't even the usual non-answer from the commissioner to such a serious charge

Posted 24 December 2020, 3:15 p.m. Suggest removal

JokeyJack says...

Joe - what is your problem. Like xtreme said, read. The police were contacted. So funny how they referred to complaints unit which is just other police. Fox guarding the hen house. Don't worry - there will be dancing in the streets on July 10th.

Posted 24 December 2020, 7:03 p.m. Suggest removal

joeblow says...

...I am reasonably educated and I do not like people trying to lead me to the conclusion they have predetermined. Are you aware of the concept of investigative journalism and was there even an iota of it reflected in this story? By virtue of this platform, they have a responsibility. This is lazy journalism and sensationalism designed to inflame opinions, encourage clicks and responses without properly presenting both sides! They are showing what they think of you! This is despicable and insulting!

Posted 24 December 2020, 10:15 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

those officers have something wrong in their brain. if not stopped they will eventually kill someone... if they haven't already, multiple times. nothing from Paul Rolle or Marvin Dames.

Posted 24 December 2020, 3:13 p.m. Suggest removal

SP says...

Police goons and brutality is the norm in the Bahamas. Something really should be done about this non-sense!!!

Posted 24 December 2020, 7:18 p.m. Suggest removal

Future says...

HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID WHY HE GOT HIS ASS BEAT. PROBABLY DESERVED MORE.... GOT OFF EASY

Posted 25 December 2020, 2:12 a.m. Suggest removal

stislez says...

Let me tell yall something, im not taking no police brutality. If i see ya face i gone remember ya. Trust you me if it happen and i recover, i killin ya! End of story! I don't care how long it take me to find ya, i gone kill ya! If i can't get you i will kill your family.... da one ova. The only way they gone learn is if you starting killin dem! I don't even care if i die. But one thing is a MUST! You, ya family, ya brother ya sista ya aunty anyone i catch if i can't get you DEAD!

Posted 25 December 2020, 10:25 a.m. Suggest removal

Entrepreneur says...

This is very embarrassing for the country and very bad for its reputation. It will make people think twice about living here.

Posted 25 December 2020, 10:39 a.m. Suggest removal

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