ORANGE WALK TOWN, Fri. Oct. 15, 2021– A police constable attached to the Gang Intelligence, Investigation and Interdiction Unit (GI3) was shot by a fellow police officer while he was reportedly fleeing from the scene of a minor traffic accident in Corozal.

According to the wounded constable, PC Wayne Dawson, he was in Corozal assisting a colleague of his in buying a new vehicle, and was passing by a gas station in the municipality when he was rear-ended by a female motorist. After the accident occurred, a police corporal went to the scene to investigate the matter. According to Dawson, the corporal seemed to be fraternizing with the woman who crashed into his car, and he began to suspect that they were conspiring against him in an effort to force him to accept all expenses resulting from the accident.

This fear of being stuck with all the costs resulting from the accident is, according to PC Dawson, what prompted him to hurriedly enter his vehicle and flee the scene. He said he intended to return to Belize City, where he felt the accident would have been handled more appropriately. Fleeing a crime scene, however, is illegal and punishable by law, according to the Belize Police Department. As a result, when Dawson left the scene of the accident, Corozal police issued a ‘Be On the Look Out’ alert for PC Dawson’s pickup truck. Upon receiving the alert, the Orange Walk Police Department set up a checkpoint on the highway along the route to Orange Walk. According to police officers who were stationed at that location on the highway, when Dawson drove past the checkpoint, his fellow officers pursued him. The pursuit came to a halt in Orange Walk Town, when, according to Dawson, he stopped his vehicle.

Dawson claims he then realized he had his licensed firearm on his person and that he was on the verge of declaring his weapon when an officer exclaimed that he had a gun, retreated, and fired shots in Dawson’s direction. According to Dawson, shots to his back caused his finger to press the trigger, and a shot was fired near the ground on which the vehicle was parked. He said he then discarded the gun.

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams has called for an internal investigation into what exactly transpired, and since the incident involved police officers from two districts — Corozal and Orange Walk, the Professional Standards Branch will be involved in the investigation.