Bruce Valencia
As the officers stood inside Columbus Park in front of the police station, they, as well as their relatives, were irate about the actions taken against them. The officers together made up the patrol known as the Quick Response Team (QRT). From all accounts, their track record as an operational team has been impressive; cracking down on criminal activities throughout the villages under the jurisdiction of the San Ignacio Police Formation. So what happened? While they did not want to jeopardize their case, Valencia’s brother, Bruce spoke to the media saying that they’ve been victimized.
Bruce Valencia, Brother of Accused
“I can’t say exactly what happened the night or the morning of the incident; I only heard about it a couple days after. And it was basically only a rumor I was getting. It started firstly…I started hearing threats towards the direction of my brother and our family because we live in the village of Unitedville. That’s where I live and my family, but my brother doesn’t live there, but he is from there. I believe that my brother was cursed by one of the young men and thereafter, he came back and spoke to the guys, a struggle ensued and I think it was like three or four of them and upon the rest of the team seeing them attacking or advancing towards my brother in a very hustle manner, the other officers, which was a part of his QRT team, they stepped in and that’s when the whole thing went haywire.”
Duane Moody
“Now, the big question is the credibility of the police officers, your brother’s team, which he headed….because as officers it is not expected that someone would be injured, let alone by a firearm assigned to them from the police department. Someone got shot. What happened there, how did it reach to that point?”
Bruce Valencia
“Well like I said I can’t answer that for certain. I spoke to the guys; I am not their lawyer or anything like that. I cannot speak on behalf of them; I could only say what I know per say. It was just an incident that occurred very quickly and I think in the midst of them trying to restrain the guys from advancing and having this thing escalated, I’m thinking the firearm might have went off. I’m figuring that it would have to be like a really crazy man, police to just fire off at a person at close range for nothing basically. I am saying nothing because I’m not sure if they had any weapon or anything like that—I can’t say that—but it would have had to be a real crazy cop, a rogue cop and I know the guys, I could vouch for the team. They have a stellar record. If you look at all the recent busts, all the recent arrests coming out of San Ignacio, the team is this same team. The QRT, which is the Quick Response Team, they are always called upon; they roam from the village of Unitedville, Spanish Lookout, all the way to Santa Familia, Bullet Tree; all those areas. So they are always called upon and they have a stellar record. I spoke to the officer in charge personally and he himself told me that this team is one of the team that produces the best in San Ignacio compared to maybe other teams or what have you. What exactly happened that night, it is beyond me really at this time. And I mean like I said, I’ve spoken to them…I don’t want to say anything that would…”
Duane Moody
“Do you feel that they are being victimized?”
Bruce Valencia
“Honestly, yes. That’s the feeling I got. I’ve been around the police station from Wednesday evening when they got detained. They weren’t charged then, they were charged last evening. Personally, all the evidence that I see is pointing to victimization, yeah.”
Valencia says that they will be looking at a legal course of action against the department because the family believes that they were treated inhumanely.
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