by Charles Gladden
ORANGE WALK, Thurs. May 11, 2023
August of 2023 will mark the passing of a year since the horrific death of Derek Uh, a 20-year-old from Cristo Rey Village, Corozal District, who died of heatstroke and suffocation after being left for over 13 hours in a locked prison van at the Corozal Police Station by police officers who had detained him for inappropriate behavior at the 2022 San Joaquin Fiesta.
Medical experts believe that Uh, who had been reportedly under the influence of alcohol at the fiesta and was detained by the officers for allegedly touching a female inappropriately, died four or five hours after initially being placed in the van, which had been transported to the Corozal Police Station, where it was parked. He was reportedly found naked with blisters over his body, and his family claims to have observed extensive skin discoloration which resulted from the conditions in the van.
For the negligence that resulted in Uh’s awful death, four police officers have been charged with manslaughter.
However, Uh’s family has also been seeking compensation from the Government of Belize (GOB) for the wrongful death of their loved one, but the government has not so far issued any such payment to the family. The family is thus planning to file a lawsuit against GoB and is being represented by former P.M. Dean Barrow, who told a local media outlet that multiple attempts were made to engage GoB for an agreement on a settlement, but those attempts went unanswered. After those went unanswered, a month’s notice for a suit was given, which went unanswered as well.
When questioned by the media today, Thursday, May 11, however, the Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. John Briceño, explained, “Those things take time … I don’t think that the government or the Police Department has ever said that there should not be any compensation. It’s a matter of working it through. So, I want to give my commitment that we are going to work it through.”
Local reporters visited Derek’s family and spoke to his mother, Raquel Uh, who expressed to the media that at the time of her son’s death, the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, promised her justice for her son, but those promises haven’t been fulfilled.
“Chester Williams came and said that he will move stone by stone, because he will bring justice for my son; and right now, it will be nine months and Chester Williams hasn’t done anything, and nobody helped us. Only family [and] friends helped us. The government hasn’t done anything too, and they won’t help us,” said the grieving mother.
She then noted that the cost of funeral arrangements totaled $5,000, without any assistance given via GoB.
A member of the local media highlighted to Raquel Uh that ComPol Williams said on a talk show that the government will consider a number of factors in order to determine the amount of compensation that is to be awarded.
“Nobody can give a price for my son, because every time I tell my two daughters if God tells me, what you want? You want money or you want your son? I tell them I want my son, because all the mothers, [our] sons don’t have a price for us,” she said.
“The life of a human is priceless and my brother was full of life and youth and had many dreams to accomplish, and many things which we wanted to see as well. It doesn’t have a price,” said Vanessa Uh, sister of Derek.
The family noted that Derek was planning on continuing his studies, as he wanted his mother to stop working and to give her a better life.