THEY WERE JUST TRYING TO HELP: Police shot cutlass wielding man they had come to assist

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who “charged at” an officer with a cutlass was fatally shot by police on Poitier Avenue and Foster Street in Chippingham yesterday.

Shortly before 9am, police were alerted to a disturbance at a residence located on Poitier Avenue.

“Officers were dispatched and on their arrival the complainant pointed out a man to them and requested their assistance with Emergency Medical Services to get him to the hospital,” police said.

“The male, who was armed with a cutlass, was asked to put down the weapon. He failed to comply with the officer’s instruction. He then charged at one of the officers, who being aware of the threat to his life, discharged his service weapon at the male.

“He was (hit) several times about the body. Emergency Medical Services transported the victim to the hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. The matter will be forwarded to the Coroner’s Office, where an inquest will be conducted into the incident.”

A cousin of the deceased told reporters what led to the incident, suggesting some mental illness may have been involved.

“. . .Cheapus you say first time mental patient,” the relative commented. “(The deceased) has never been diagnosed as a mental patient before, but the way how he was carrying on sound like something that needed to be treated – quick and fast.”

“Eight-thirty this morning I arrived at home. My aunt was there but my dad got a call from 6 o’clock from the stepfather that said that ‘John is carrying on very wild upstairs.’ I went to the store with my mom. At first I didn’t know what was going on. I went to do my personal errands. When we arrived back at home, we met my aunt crying. When we asked what happened she said John is carrying on wild. This the first time she’s ever seen this.”

The cousin said relatives tried to call an officer the family knows, but they could not be reached. Eventually, the cousin called the police control room and got an immediate response.

When the officers arrived they asked where the mental patient was and were informed he was upstairs. The cousin remembered the deceased was calm on the bed before the matter escalated.

“First thing I told John, I said ‘John we have some people here to help you. They come here to talk to you and to guide you.’ (He) said ‘get the F out of here, who are you guys,’ he don’t want to talk to you.’ He said, ‘police I don’t want to talk to you guys,’” the cousin told The Tribune.

The relative said the deceased “gassed up himself” to go towards the officer and the officer got out his baton. The cousin tried to explain again that the police were trying to help.

An officer was about to give a mask to the deceased, but he continued to “flare up on the officers,” the cousin said.

The relative recalled telling the deceased that his daughter was downstairs in the police car waiting.

“At that point and time, I guess me saying the daughter downstairs, he got up to go and put on a shirt and some shoes. My dad and his fast mouth said ‘Yeah the police is here to take to you to the hospital.’ This is when he step back and said ‘I don’t need no help. I’m not going anywhere.’ I said ‘John don’t mind him.’ I say your daughter downstairs she’s in the police car. He said bring her upstairs. I said she can’t come upstairs. I said she downstairs. I said it too scary for her.”

The relative said the deceased continued to make noise, so the relative stood outside to make a few calls.

After some time, the deceased made his way outside.

“. . .He started coming outside. He slam the door in the officer’s face... They was only here to help. So the officer open back up the door, he came out with the cutlass.

“The officer put my aunt in front and them two started to shuffle to get close to the officer. The officer stood to an end of the railing and he said ‘do not move, or I’ll shoot.’ He continued to move towards the officers with the cutlass and the officer shoot one in the air. When he did he said ‘Don’t move I’m warning you this is your last warning’. He had to shoot him.”

This incident comes after Saturday’s fatal police-involved shooting of a man who allegedly assaulted an elderly lady and shot a young man who followed him. The man later shot at officers, police said, who returned fire, fatally wounding him.

Police-involved shootings have raised many questions by the public over whether the killings were justified. However, the cousin understood why the police shot the deceased.

“Let’s take it for example, if someone coming at you with a cutlass what is your next thing to run, right? Okay, so the officers didn’t have no other choice and on top of that they’re in fear for their life. If you holding a cutlass, running behind the officer I would’ve run too. I would’ve tried take some type of action. So like I said they were in fear for their life and they had no other choice.”

The deceased was described as a very quiet person who loved music.

Comments

Godson says...

Did this man have any legs? Could he not have been shot in the legs apart from the vital areas of his body?

Posted 16 June 2021, 6:37 a.m. Suggest removal

Dawes says...

From what i have read they say that is not possible as the person can still charge at the officer. This sounds like a terrible situation where the officer did not want to but had to, I take it they don't have tasers which would have been better. It is very wrong that we dont give those who need it the help they need as situations like these might not happen.

Posted 16 June 2021, 9:30 a.m. Suggest removal

Still... straight to the chest?

Posted 16 June 2021, 10:07 p.m. Suggest removal

John says...

‘He was shot several times.’ With the current situation in the country with drug abuse and other things stressing people out and causing people to ‘go out their heads’. It is time to have specially trained officers to deal with mental patients. These persons can go from calm to aggressively violent and uncontrollable on the drop of a hat. So the first goal is to keep them as calm as possible, disarm them if they are armed, and then restrain them. Restrain them at guy opportunity. For some reason, mental pay, especially those who may be abusing substances, gain super human strength. And to avoid a physical altercation with them at all cost. When a person is ‘stressed’in this fashion,they don’t want to hear words like polio, and patrol car and host and ambulance. Those words will just trigger them off. Notice when they mentioned ‘sister being downstairs’ he calmed diet and started to cooperate. Some are even known to break the restraining straps on the gurney. The outcome is sad and unfortunate, especially since the family claims it is the first time the person behaved this way. It must also be traumatic for the officers, who went to assist the patient, but ended contributing to his demise. They will need counseling.

Posted 16 June 2021, 7:54 a.m. Suggest removal

DonAnthony says...

There is an urgent need for tasers on the police force so they have a viable option short of using lethal force to subdue persons who are violently threatening themselves and others.

Posted 16 June 2021, 9:22 a.m. Suggest removal

mandela says...

Why shoot to kill, why several shots when one in his leg would have stopped him if they wanted to do just that? I guess that was their intention all along to expire him, you don't go from wanting to help someone to firing several shots into a person wielding a cutlass when the helping person has a gun. Unlike a person with a gun, the cutlass-wielding person has to be very close to the other person to cause any significant damage, a gun shooter doesn't.

tribanon says...

As tragic as this incident is, any police officer in imminent danger has a right to use deadly force when the circumstances are such that the officer considers it necessary. The split second delay it would have taken to aim for a leg shot could have cost the officer his life. The officer was not equipped with a taser and his decision to use deadly force to defend and protect himself should not be second guessed based on the eye witness testimony given The Tribune's reporter.

Posted 16 June 2021, 11:04 a.m. Suggest removal

truetruebahamian says...

Too many questions, but then again too many humans, so we must eliminate a few - in the name of the law!

Posted 16 June 2021, 3:24 p.m. Suggest removal

Are you talking about the jabs?

Posted 16 June 2021, 6:12 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

I think its fine as long as its not your relative, when it hits home and its someine close to you your only question is why didnt they help? Everytime I hear these stories of black men being shot for this or that my first thought is that could be my brother my cousin etc. Wasnt it just a month ago that we said the police needed training on mental health???? When did that policeman kill himself after noone in his command listened to the father's pleas for help?

Posted 16 June 2021, 9:46 p.m. Suggest removal

If it had been a white man suddenly lunging at that police officer with a cutlass I'm pretty sure he would have met with the same fate. The pigmentation of an assailant's skin doesn't result in a different outcome when a police officer's life is in imminent danger.

Posted 17 June 2021, 3:13 p.m. Suggest removal

TalRussell says...

Shouldn't this be the expected **fatal**result from **bullets penetrating** a body?
Pray they **(not sure who the they, are)** thought to saved for evidence the **several** spent bullets that fatally (hit) the man's **about** em's body.
And, of course, there will be the usual 100% certainty - **no Body Camera evidence exists,** yes?

Posted 16 June 2021, 11:52 a.m. Suggest removal

Proguing says...

Looks like a suicide by police to me

Posted 16 June 2021, 1:07 p.m. Suggest removal

quietone says...

I strongly believe that one of the best things that can be done to stop or to reduce serious crimes in our Bahamas is to find a method to STOP illegal guns from entering this country... for what I have seen and experienced in my 87 years on this earth, I strongly believe that most or many of us with a gun, would be strongly attempted to use it to take a person's life... will continue to write about this... after a while, many would probably agree with me... we are most likely experiencing those perilous times Jesus spoke about in Matthew chapter 24...

Posted 16 June 2021, 3:56 p.m. Suggest removal

JokeyJack says...

"An officer was about to give a mask to the deceased, but he continued to “flare up on the officers,” the cousin said.

If only they could have gotten that mask on him. A missed opportunity.

Posted 16 June 2021, 4:51 p.m. Suggest removal

This is EXTREMELY strange. The officers knew tgey were going to try to extract a mentally unfit person and they shot to kill?? I wasnt there noone was charging at me with a cutlass... but they killed him??

Posted 16 June 2021, 9:40 p.m. Suggest removal

Irrespective of what our views are about this unfortunate situation, one thing I know for certain, if that officer was not sincere in his or her execution, they themself become a walking-dead for the rest of their life, unless, or until, they confess. That is the way God, or nature if you wish, have designed us. THAT'S A FACT!!!

Posted 16 June 2021, 10:23 p.m. Suggest removal

**How-the-ever, the very second a decision is made** to dispatch **militarized constabulary, **all mentally prepped use armed force** - don't act likes you're suddenly all-sparked into a fury when it results in the shooting of members PopoulacesCommeners' on the scene, becoming **the latest statistic of the too damn many reoccurring** fatal casualties by the Royal Constabulary, yes?

Posted 16 June 2021, 10:36 p.m. Suggest removal

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/health/medica…

Posted 17 June 2021, 2:11 p.m. Suggest removal