BASSETERRE, St Kitts – BRIAN PAQUETTE, the police officer who was shot in the line of duty with his own service firearm, had his left leg amputated in Trinidad.
This information was confirmed by Commissioner of Police Ian Queeley when contacted yesterday (Jul. 3) by SKNVibes.
Initial reports stated that at about 1:00 a.m. on Thursday (Jun. 23) while Constable Paquette and another rank had responded to a report of larceny in the Greenlands area, they had stopped an individual of interest in Prickle Pear Alley and decided to conduct a search of his person.
During the search, the officers reportedly found that the man had a knife in his possession and they decided to take him into custody. However, a struggle ensured among the three of them and the man allegedly grabbed Paquette’s service firearm from which a round was discharged during the process and struck him in his left leg.
It was learnt that the other officer subdued the individual, whose name was given as Evron Williams, and he was taken into custody at the Basseterre Police Station, where he was later charged with attempting to make use of a firearm with intent to prevent lawful apprehension of himself.
This publication was told that the officer had made several calls to get a unit from the Emergency Medical Services to take the injured Constable, who was bleeding profusely, to the JNF Hospital, but they were all futile. A police patrol vehicle had however responded and took him to the hospital.
On Wednesday afternoon (Jun. 29), the police issued a release which said, “With regards to the incident which took place on Thursday June 23rd in Basseterre, the matter has been referred to the Office of Professional Standards and the injured officer is presently receiving further medical treatment overseas. We want to reassure the public that we will follow the procedure to the highest standard and will keep them informed of any developments as they occur.”
SKNVibes had learnt that Williams did not shoot Paquette, but his fellow officer did. This was confirmed by the contents of the release even though it lacked certain information.
This publication also learned that Constable Paquette was at the JNF Hospital for approximately four days before he was flown out to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital in Trinidad for advance medical treatment, where his left leg was amputated.
According to Paquette’s uncle, Austin Harris, as reported by The Observer, in addition to losing his leg, his nephew’s liver is failing.
Harris reportedly told The Observer that Paquette was flown out of St. Kitts via air ambulance on Monday (Ju. 27) and questioned the reason for the four-day delay.
“I am pissed,” he reportedly told the media house. “My nephew got shot in the line of duty, why wasn’t he transported sooner?”
He also told the media house that the newly-appointed Chief Medical Officer and Medical Chief-of-Staff, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, had suggested that Paquette be flown out of the Federation within 24 to 48 hours after he was shot but that did not happen until four days later, which caused the leg to rot and deadly toxins to attack both kidneys that causing them to fail.
“On Friday, we were told that the air ambulance was cancelled because there wasn’t any insurance. As a family we decided we would pay for it and hope we would be reimbursed, as described by Mr. Brandy, by the police association. My nephew had gotten worse and wasn’t stable enough to travel on Saturday,” The Observer quoted Harris as saying.
Harris also disclosed that Paquette had received two rounds of dialysis while at the JNF Hospital and that when he was flown out to Trinidad his leg was already rotted.
Harris claimed that Dr. Wilkinson might have caused the “hold up” in getting his nephew off to Trinidad but, when contacted, Commissioner Queeley told SKNVibes that “Dr. Wilkinson did all that was humanly possible to assist us in flying out Constable Paquette. He had made contact with the hospital in Trinidad and did everything to get him out of the Federation, but before flying out he had to be stabilised.”
Harris also told The Observer that his nephew would remain in Trinidad for some time, as he would need to be counselled and receive physical therapy to assist him in being mobile.
Question on Constable Paquette’s future as an amputee in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, Queeley declared that he is still a member of the Force and the High Command would not abandon him.
He also stated that on Paquette’s recovery and return to duty, he would be placed in a department within which he could best serve.
