There is yet another allegation of police brutality to report tonight to add to a growing list of such allegations in the past week. Nineteen year old Armani Bailey claims that police officers did a routine search on him on Wednesday and found nothing, but what he says happened after that, is anything but routine. Bailey claims the officers followed him to his yard, detained him and took him to a deserted road on the Western Highway. There, they allegedly beat him up and then threw him in a garbage bin. Not only that, but he says one officer tried to hold his head under the water in the bin. It’s a disturbing allegation, though certainly not an unbelievable one. Today, Bailey spoke off camera, along with his family members who are still angry at the treatment by Police.
Voice of: Armani Bailey, Alleges Police Brutality
“When I went in my yard, the man dehn say in fact we wah ker fi he [bleep] for obstruction. Push down my auntie weh eighty-four years old, and come ina my yard and back me out and put me ina the trunk of the vehicle and say dehn wah ker me fi obstruction. We drove pass Raccoon Street and I see dehn hit the highway. Dehn took me up the road by four miles check point through by coastguard. Two of the officers come out—Mister Trapp and Mister Sutherland—and dehn punch mi up ina mi belly, back ah mi head, mi face and they pick me up and throw me ina di garbage can. Mister Trapp jump in with one foot and try to hold me down but he didn’t want his boot to get wet so he didn’t force my head down. They got out and they sped off.”
Grace Flowers
Grace Flowers, Aunt of Armani Bailey
“I am not happy with that. The Prime Minister need to do something about these police men weh di abuse people’s children. They really need to do something. The next thing I neva happy when dehn come in and push down mi auntie. She is eighty-four years old, she is a U.S. citizen; she only come fi vacation and they push she down and I have wah big problem with that.”
Marie Garbutt, Mother of Armani Bailey
Marie Garbutt
“I am not happy with what happened with him. I think that is plain police brutality and I am asking the commissioner if he could please deal with this before it get out of hand because I think lot more of these cases happen like that already and they don’t know about it.”
Reporter
“Well the family has filed a report with police already. How quick do you expect them to act on this?”
Marie Garbutt
“Well I expect them to act on it soon because if it happens again. I mean the police have people who come back and deal with it. So I ask that the commissioner deal with it as soon as possible. We made our report to Internal Affairs already.”
Bailey says he managed to find his way down, and he and his aunt went immediately to the Police Station to make a report. He was given a medico-legal form and says his injuries were classified as harm. Today Senior Superintendent Edward Broaster told News Five that Police are investigating the very disturbing incident.
View the full article