Derrick Uh, 20, was found dead after being detained and kept in a locked police van for over 14 hours. He was reportedly forgotten by the officers who confined him. “HE WAS LEFT THERE WORST THAN AN ANIMAL,” his sister posted on social media.

by Marco Lopez

COROZAL, Mon. Aug. 15, 2022
A family is seeking answers from the Police Department; their loved one, 20- year-old Derrick Uh, a resident of Cristo Rey, died after being detained and apparently forgotten inside a locked police prison van for almost 14 hours. According to reports, Uh was found dead around 5 o’clock on Sunday evening, after being inside the van from around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, when he was confined, reportedly for

drunkenness at the San Joaquin Fair being held in Corozal.

The prison van was taken to the Corozal Police Station, where it was parked, but the victim, Uh, was never taken out of the van and placed in the cell block. The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, reported that two to three officers were involved in the detention, and somehow they all purportedly forgot that the man was still at the back of the prison van — their memory being jolted only after another officer found the youth dead, reportedly with his lips swollen and with ruptures on its surface due to the sweltering heat.

“Yesterday evening, when the driver of the van, who usually takes the vehicle to prison to ferry prisoners went to service the van to make sure it was roadworthy for today, he discovered the lifeless body of the young man in the back of the van. It was taken to the Corozal Hospital, where it was pronounced dead,” COMPOL Williams said.

Commissioner Williams went on to say that both a criminal and an internal police investigation have since been launched, and emphasized that no stones would be left unturned in investigating this tragedy.

“Those police officers who are responsible for placing the young man in the back of the vehicle will have to be dealt with some way or the other. The file will be prepared and sent to the DDP Office for instructions, and then we move forward from there,” Williams said.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will determine if and what criminal charges will be levied against the officers involved. COMPOL Williams has noted, however, that the officers who were deployed at the fair were improvising, since there is no detention center in the village, and they were thus using the police prison van as a makeshift cell during the festivities.

Uh, who was detained at the fairgrounds, would have had adequate ventilation leading up to the parking of the van at the Corozal Police Station. Whether or not he was unconscious or was, as reports say, intoxicated, has not been confirmed, but the conditions that led to his death were almost certainly excruciating.

“It is a secure area to keep prisoners, so long as the engine is running and the air is circulating, and in the absence of a police station and cell, they were improvising, which I cannot kill them for that. But the thing is, when they arrived at the police station, they ought to have made sure that the young man was removed from the van, and that was where things went wrong.” Williams said.

Police Commissioner Williams additionally noted that no noise was heard coming from the van on Sunday, and no signs that the victim was trying to escape were visible inside the holding area of the prison van.

It will be up to the courts to determine whether or not leaving the young man in the vehicle was intentional and not an oversight on the part of the officers involved.

When asked if there are any indications of foul play — some intention of the officers to harm Uh— Williams responded, “While I have seen some discourse on social media, to the effect that the officers intentionally left the young men, I just can’t buy that. I don’t think that they would do something like that, and again to prove a person’s intent, is extremely difficult. Again, I say that they are humans beings. I don’t want anybody to think that we are defending the police, cause I am not defending the actions. I said that what they did was wrong and has to be dealt with, but at the same time I must be fair, and cannot make assertions that are not supported by evidence.”

He added, “I cannot say that it was deliberately done, but certainly there is some degree of gross negligence and carelessness, and that is what we are looking at.”

The Police Department is also bracing for a lawsuit that will likely be brought by Uh’s family.

“Certainly, the family will have a right to sue, and I am certain that they are going to sue, and we have to pay the price,” Williams said.

Investigators are currently piecing together the facts pertaining to this terrible incident. Williams said that he has not spoken to the officers involved in the incident as yet, but feels terrible as the head of the Police Department.

“Honestly, I feel terrible, and I feel for the family. I cursed enough yesterday, and if it would not be unethical to curse on the media, I would curse right now, because it really pisses me off,” he commented, adding, “I can ensure the public that we are not going to cover nothing. We are going to be open and frank with the people and let the people understand exactly what transpired,” Williams told local reporters.

At the time, he had not spoken to Uh’s family as yet, but he said that he will perhaps reach out to them. Family members, friends and many members of the public who are shocked by the manner of Uh’s death have taken to social media to call for justice for the young man.

One of his sisters, Vanessa Uh, posted,” What I feel the most is the way you died. You suffered so much. I couldn’t be at your side and pray for you.”

Another of his sisters posted, “#JusticeforDerrick – My little brother was just a young man full of life. I know sometimes he was in problems but he just never did something that bad to deserve to be killed that way. If he did something wrong why they didn’t report he and just put him in jail and let us know. Where is CHESTER and where is our PRIME MINISTER to all things happening. In fact Police are supposed to protect us not to do this things. We pay them and this is just heartless to tell us that supposingly ‘we forgot about him’. My brother suffered and he even took off his clothes and was trying to survive . HE WAS LEFT THERE WORST THAN AN ANIMAL With what excuse they will come now?????I don’t wish this to no one but we need justice…”

The Young Leaders Alliance of Belize issued a statement calling for a thorough investigation and justice, saying that the action of the police amounted to manslaughter by negligence.

“YLAB recognizes this undoubtedly cruel and unconscionable act as nothing less than manslaughter by negligence,” the release states.

The Prime Minister also released a statement on the incident. That release, which refers to the death of Uh as a “tragedy beyond comprehension”, goes on to state, “As a father of three sons, I grieve along with the parents and loved ones of Derrick Uh. Based on preliminary information received, his death was a tragedy and a travesty, and I stand with the rest of the nation in demanding full and complete answers.”

The Prime Minister went on to make the following pledge in the release: “As Prime Minister, I can assure the family of Derrick Uh, and the nation, that no stone will be left unturned in the investigation of events leading to his death. There will be no excuses taken, and no delays in getting to the bottom of what appears, at this time and without medical evidence, to be heinous and criminal neglect.”

“I am saddened, appalled and disgusted. We all should be. I extend heartfelt condolences to his family,” the Prime Minister further stated.

The Opposition, the United Democratic Party, issued a release of their own, in which they stated that the party “demands a transparent and impartial investigation into the death of young Derrick Uh and emphatically condemns the gross negligence of his arresting officers that resulted in hours of inhumane torture and eventual death.”

The UDP goes on in the release to “extend condolences to the Uh family and friends and offer legal or any other form of support that may be needed to seek justice for Derrick.”

“Fourteen hours, imagine being shackled in a hot prison box for fourteen hours, crying out for help as your life force slowly slips away. Nobody could have heard Derrick’s cry in that dark van on a sweltering summer day,” states the UDP in the concluding paragraph of the release.