By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

TWO police officers have been charged and could now facing dismissal over a shocking incident in which a detained American woman was forced to defecate on a police station floor, Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles confirmed to The Tribune yesterday.

Ms Knowles did not reveal the specific charges, before the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s tribunal, but said they were serious enough to warrant recommendations for dismissal.

A graphic video of the episode, circulated on social media, caused wide-scale public condemnation.

The July incident involved a half-naked Caucasian woman who could be heard begging for a bathroom as off-camera officers appear to mock her. Racial slurs were exchanged.

Commissioner Knowles' update comes after a US Embassy official called for accountability into the case following a lack of updates from authorities on the outcome to the probe.

Allie Carter Olson, the US Embassy’s spokesperson told The Tribune yesterday: “We trust the RBPF is conducting a thorough internal investigation to bring accountability to those involved and ensure such incidents do not happen again.”

The graphic video showed the woman shouting that her repeated requests to use the bathroom were ignored before she defecated on the station floor. Off-camera voices, presumed to be officers, taunt and provoke her throughout the ordeal.

“I told you I had to go to the bathroom,” the woman said after the act, visibly distressed. In the exchange, she repeatedly used racial slurs against the officers, who respond with jeers and accusations that she is under the influence of cocaine. One officer told her to “stay out the coke house.”

Another officer replied to her use of a slur by twisting it into an acronym: “never ignorant getting goals accomplished.” The video then showed multiple piles of faeces on the floor as officers reacted audibly to the smell, prompting the woman to shout another racial insult.

The footage appeared to have been recorded on a personal device rather than a police body camera.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe confirmed that the recording breached RBPF policy. He emphasised the seriousness of the breach and the police’s obligation to treat all detainees with dignity.

“That does not look to be a body camera video because body cameras do not display like that,” he said. “So that would be somebody recording, and that would be against the orders of the Commissioner of Police.”

He said that while the woman may not have been physically assaulted, the conduct shown in the video was a serious violation of protocol.

“If you are a policeman and you know you are not supposed to be recording people and you are not supposed to be releasing them, you should expect to be disciplined if that is what you did,” he said.

Attorney Christina Galanos, who advocates for detainee rights, called the woman’s treatment and the video’s circulation a serious violation of her rights.

“She has a right to use the bathroom. That is her right. She ought to be treated humanely and fairly, pursuant to the Constitution,” she said at the time.

Ms Galanos described the incident as “a complete loss of dignity” and warned that the viral footage could inflict lasting harm on the woman’s life and reputation. “That is a video that is going to be in circulation forever,” she said.

She added that the officers’ failure to de-escalate the situation reflected a disturbing lack of professionalism. “There appears to be this perception among certain officers that if you verbally abuse them, or if you talk to them a certain way, then they have this power or right to mistreat you,” she said. “That is simply not the case.”

Calling the footage “dehumanising,” Ms Galanos said the woman would likely have grounds for a civil lawsuit based on inhumane and degrading treatment. “If you do not have the stomach to endure [verbal abuse] and continue on with your job professionally and check all the boxes, then you ought not be there,” she said.

She warned that the international fallout could be severe. “It makes our police force and our country look horrible,” she said. “If you turn people off with a video like that, they will not come.”