BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A police officer - dressed in plain clothes - and a civilian were wrestling for a gun Friday afternoon (Nov. 9) on Pond Road, Newtown in the vicinity of Pizza Lovers and Carty Alley, which resulted in the man being arrested and taken to the Basseterre Police Station.
The flow of traffic was temporarily disrupted during the altercation between the two men who were struggling with the weapon, literally in the middle of the road.
When SKNVibes arrived on the scene at approximately 5:26 p.m., two plain clothes police officers were seen speaking to the man who was identified only as ‘Smokey’, and onlookers had assembled on the sidewalks from various directions.
According to one eyewitness, Smokey was approached because he was believed to have cannabis sativa in his possession.
“Well, they say the police suspect him (of having) ganja, but they ain’t gone cross de road wid none,” said one man after Smokey was driven away in an unmarked police vehicle.
Eyewitnesses said the officer was dressed in plain clothes and one of them claimed that the two men wrestled just for a few minutes before a plain clothes “army man’ came out of a barber shop and assisted the police in taking the gun away from the man”.
Another man revealed that the officer had put the gun to the man neck and hit him in the back with it.
It was alleged that the officer held Smokey in a choke hold and soon after they both started struggling with the weapon.
A few persons expressed anger that perhaps the officer could have handled the situation better in approaching the man.
One man said, “Sometimes the police over do it.”
Some believed that Smokey retaliated because he got angry with how he was being handled.
“How people supposed to know he was a police?” commented one woman.
Apparently, Smokey was on the side of the road having a conversation with an individual - who spoke from a window - when he was approached by the officer.
One individual at the scene revealed that this is the “second police Smokey get lock up for now”.
