The Police Complaints Authority yesterday officially began another phase of its investigation into the fatal July 2 police shooting of three young men in Port-of-Spain yesterday, by interviewing one of the survivors of the incident.
The youngest survivor, a 15-year-old who cannot be named because he’s a minor, gave a report to the PCA with his parents and attorney Om Lalla by his side.
Speaking afterwards, Lalla, accompanied by junior attorney Ilisha Manerikar, expressed confidence in the PCA’s ability to investigate fairly and thoroughly.
He said he was heartened to hear that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service’s (TTPS) report into the shooting was also expected to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard shortly as well.
“It is important that the Commissioner of Police and those involved deal with this matter swiftly and efficiently as possible, because it has sparked not only outrage in the community but in the country about how this matter has been perceived. The evidence and the assessment of the evidence is going to be critical to put people’s fears and concerns to rest. And what we’ve learned in this matter, is these matters have to be managed very quickly and efficiently by the police,” Lalla said.
“You have to build confidence and trust in the public if you want to have matters of this nature dealt with in the court of public opinion and otherwise, so that you get the confidence of the public.”
According to Lalla, his client was left severely traumatised by the shooting.
He lamented that the teenager, who was shot in his arm, has not been offered more support by the authorities.
“I have written to the Commissioner of Police for the intervention of some sort of assistance from the Special Victims Unit, but to date no one has reached out. There’s been no effort to provide any counselling or support to him whatsoever. And the family is not a family of means that they could afford to get counselling. They, in fact, don’t even know where to go,” the attorney said.
“Until this matter is completed, this young man, who is not guilty or who has not been charged with any crime, deserves to be treated fairly by the state and provided with whatever facilities can be afforded to him as a victim of a crime.”
Lalla also made an appeal for effective measures to be put in place, from the top down, to aggressively deal with incidents of this nature sort holistically.
He said it is also imperative that people have full confidence in the system’s ability to deliver justice.
On July 2, six young men reportedly left a party in Diego Martin in a vehicle. On the drive home, however, they were pursued by police officers. During the pursuit, the vehicle crashed into Republic Bank along Independence Square, Port-of-Spain.
Police officers shot at them after the vehicle crashed, killing 21-year-old Fabien Richards; 17-year-old Isaiah Roberts and 17-year-old Leonardo Willaims. The vehicle’s three other occupants, including a 15-year-old, were subsequently released without charge.
The police report claimed that someone in the vehicle shot at them, while the survivors claimed that no one in the vehicle was armed. However, one of them did admit to having a small flip knife in the car.