Today, a West Street resident, Andy Alford, 27, is scheduled to attend an identification parade at the Queen Street Police Station Headquarters looking for an officer he claimed beat him up while he was in a detention cell over the weekend.

Alford, who was released from police custody on Monday night and was not charged with anything, is at home recovering from a large gash in the middle of his face, between the eyes and nose, which took 8 stitches to close.

Alford said he was attacked for no apparent reason by the officer. The incident allegedly occurred sometime around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 3, at the Patrol Branch detention cell area, claimed Alford.

On that Sunday, Alford and his girlfriend got into a misunderstanding, and he admitted that he hit his girlfriend. She took the matter to the police station.

At about 8:30 p.m. Alford said he was standing outside the Queen Street Police Headquarters, on Queen Street, when an officer came outside and told him that he was wanted for harm against his girlfriend.

The officer detained him and took him into the station.

Alford’s girlfriend had gone to the Family Violence Unit (FVU) and gave police a written statement of what had transpired between them, and based on that report, Alford was arrested.

But the nightmare began after he was being put in the detention cell, said Alford.

At the cell entrance, Alford said that he saw two men in the cell, who he claimed were his “enemies,” and he told the officers that he could not enter.

But saying that, Alford said, from nowhere, a policeman, dressed in a dark blue uniform, rushed at him and began beating him with a baton.

He was clobbered in the back and shoulder area, then hit several times in the face, he claimed.

The beating lasted for about 10 minutes.

The two officers that were escorting him to the cell only watched, said Alford.

It was not until 5 minutes later that he was taken to the hospital, he claimed.

At the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital he was treated for his injuries. He tried to explain to the doctor how he got the injuries, but the doctor would not listen to him, he said.

He was then taken back to the police station, where, he claimed, he was never given the medications prescribed for his injuries.

It was not until Monday night when he was being discharged that the police gave him the medication to take home.

Alford says he will never forget the two days of pain, and a scar on his face to stay with him for life.

Alford has since made an official statement to the police Internal Affairs Department.