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MIT cops shot my vehicle: Inspector Fitzroy

HeadlineMIT cops shot my vehicle: Inspector Fitzroy

Two children were in the vehicle, said the 22-year veteran of the Police Department

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Sept. 3, 2018– On a weekend of mayhem, murders and violence, Inspector of Police, Fitzroy Yearwood’s Mazda Tribute SUV was shot near Yarborough Bridge, around 1:07 p.m. yesterday, Sunday.

In a telephone interview tonight just before we went to press, Yearwood, a 22-year veteran of the Belize Police Department, told us that the bullet that knocked out one of his car’s passenger-side windows apparently came from a police vehicle.

Yearwood said that as he was driving past “Tut Bay,” there was a police mobile patrol unit parked on the right side of the street. There were two policemen, attached to the Mobile Interdiction Unit (MIT), who were inside the vehicle.

“As I got over the speed bump in front of Tut Bay, I head bam, one hard blast. When I realized that my vehicle got hit, was because the lee boys dem deh scream [two minors, children, were inside Yearwood’s vehicle]. There was no other vehicle in sight, only the MIT vehicle,” Yearwood said.

Yearwood said that the glass in his right, rear-passenger window was shattered and fell inside the vehicle.

If the vehicle had been shot at from the other direction, the glass would not have fallen inside, he said.

“What did the police officers in the MIT vehicle do?” we asked Yearwood.

“They drove off under speed down Neal Pen Road, and I came off the bridge and stopped my vehicle on the canal side”, Yearwood explained.

“And you suspect that they were the ones who hit your vehicle?” we asked.

“Yes, why didn’t they come and check why the vehicle had stopped on top of the bridge,” Yearwood reasoned.

Yearwood said that the bullet entered from his gypsy window and exited through his rear passenger-side glass.

We asked him what is the Police Department’s position on this matter, and if he had filed an official report.

“Yes, I filed an official report, but Acting Commissioner Chester Williams deh tampered with the investigation from the beginning,” Yearwood answered.

In such a situation, only a report would typically be required to launch a proper police investigation of Yearwood’s claim.

Acting Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, without allowing an investigation to run its course, had apparently concluded that the bullet did not come from one of the two MIT officers.

Yearwood told us that “Williams accused me of making mischief in the WhatsApp media group.”

“Now who would make mischief by getting fired upon, threatening their own life? Am I a crazy person?” Yearwood asked.

“He passed judgment against me yesterday without even investigating,” Yearwood said.

Yearwood said that he has obtained the services of attorney Anthony Sylvestre.

Amandala has learned from a source close to the Yearwood family, about an allegation that the Acting Commissioner has issued a stop order, preventing ballistics testing of the two weapons that the MIT policemen were carrying.

On August 10, 2017, Inspector Yearwood was abruptly relieved of his position as police press officer after serving in that capacity for a number of years, because he had disseminated information that he was provided with by the San Pedro police concerning one of Minister Edmond Castro’s sons, who allegedly was involved in an incident in which a student of Galen University suffered a beat-down on the island by a group of young men.

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