Officers charged with Derrick Uh’s manslaughter to reappear in court on September 30 for disclosure
COROZAL, Mon. Aug. 22, 2022 Four of the officers charged for the death of 20-year-old Derrick Uh were arraigned in the Corozal Magistrate’s Court and released on bail last Thursday. The officers—Inspector Isaias Sanchez, Sergeant Rosario Romerio, PC Errol Peralta, and PC Alrick Borland—were all indicted on a manslaughter charge for the death of Uh, who passed away in the back of a police van as a result of heatstroke and suffocation. Following an adjournment, the sitting magistrate granted the four officers bail and ordered them to return to court on the 30th of September for disclosure. No plea with taken at this first hearing.
Norman Rodriguez, attorney for one of the officers, PC Errol Peralta – who was the driver of the van—told reporters that bail in the sum of $10,000, and two sureties of $5,000 each was granted.
“It was the same across the board for all four officers. The court was minded to grant bail that the defendants had to produce a property paper or house lot or some documents related to property. We made further submission, and the court considered those submissions and ended up giving them signed bail,” Rodriguez said. He added, “They are to surrender their documents, they are not to apply for any other documents without the permission of the court, and they are to sign in every Monday between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. at the Corozal police station,” he said.
Rodriguez, who said that he believes justice should be granted, noted that it is important that due process takes place so that it can be determined who is truly culpable. “I know that the public wants justice for the young man, and I believe that justice should be granted or given, but the summary of fact on which these four defendants were charged – there is one, or part of a statement that stands out in my mind, that Peralta drove the police vehicle to park it and this is what it says, ‘unaware that there was someone inside’,” Rodriguez emphasized.
He went on to say that while he, like so many others in the country, is pained by the type of death suffered by Uh and the grief experienced by his family, the Police Department must prosecute those that are guilty. “I feel real pain for the family. He was a promising young man, and it touches me when young people innocently are deprived of their lives, but at the end of the day, if you are going to prosecute, prosecute those that are guilty; don’t drag innocent people and compound the problems,” Rodriguez said.
Currently, an audit is being conducted at the Corozal Police Station, Police Commissioner Chester Williams said in an interview on Friday. The Research, Planning, Legal Affairs, and Compliance (RPLAC) branch of the Police Department will reportedly
carry out the audit to ascertain if any others were culpable and to determine what were the systematic breakdowns that could have caused Uh’s death.
He also gave an update on an internal investigation being carried out within the Police Department, and indicated that the officers who were suspended have now been placed on interdiction, with the exception of the officer who holds the rank of inspector (Officer Sanchez), who has to face the Security Services Commission.
During Friday’s interview, COMPOL Williams said, “Since then you would know that three of those officers were on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation. The suspension will now be upgraded to interdiction, and so they go to interdiction with half pay. As it relates to Mr. Sanchez, who falls under the Security Services Commission, I only have the power by law to put him on five days administrative leave, and then it’s the Services Commission that will have to suspend him from duty.”
That commission, however, is presently not in operation, since a new commission has not yet been constituted by the current administration, COMPOL Williams went on to note.
“I am hoping that one is going to be constituted very shortly, and then once that is done, we can go through the process of having him on suspension the right way. The investigation also shows that there were a number of administrative breaches by some other officers within the Corozal police formation, and so those officers will be dealt with by means of our internal disciplinary process,” Williams said.
Commissioner Williams further noted that, after an audit is carried out to determine what systematic failures led to the incident, persons found culpable in that audit will also be dealt with internally. Then, in reference specifically to Sergeant Rosario Romero, who was along with PC Peralta in the van that was driven and parked at the police station in Corozal, he stated, “I will only say this much, that as the senior person in the vehicle that went to the station, he could have ensured that the proper process was followed when the vehicle was handed over at the station, and so I would want to think that internally he would have something to answer.”
There is no evidence at this time to point to the officer commanding the Corozal police station as having any responsibility for Uh’s death, but a definitive conclusion will be reached based on the facts gathered during the internal audit. For now, the accused officers are out on bail until the end of September, when they will return to court.