BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A heavy equipment operator said he is facing four charges for defending himself against a man whom he later learned was a police officer.
Alfred ‘Smokie’ Stevens of Keys Village is alleging that a member of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force had struck him in the back with a firearm and bit him twice on his upper arm in the region of his right bicep.
The 37-seven-year-old said the incident occurred on Friday (Nov. 9) at approximately 5:30 p.m. at the junction of Pond Road and Carty Alley in Newtown.
Recounting what transpired on that day, Stevens said he was conversing with an elderly woman, whose name he gave as Ms. Lewis, when a young man accused him of using indecent language and grabbed him around the waist.
He noted that Ms. Lewis is a very close family friend, a woman he calls “mother”, and she lives above a clothing store at the junction of Pond Road and Carty Alley.
“On the day in question, I was at the junction of Pond Road and Carty Alley speaking to Ms. Lewis who was at her bedroom window. She was chastising me for not going by her on the previous to collect some food that she had prepared for me, which she claimed that she gave to someone else after not seeing me.
“While we were talking, Ms. Lewis jokingly swore and a young man who was passing at the time came up to me and said that he heard me using a bad word. I told him that I didn’t know anything about that and Ms. Lewis told him that she was the person who swore. He then wrapped his arms around me from the rear.
“I pulled away from him, and as I was moving closer to the building, Ms. Lewis shouted, ‘Watch it, he got a gun.’ The man then took the gun, placed it at the back of my head and hit me with it on the left side of my lower back,” Stevens said.
Stevens, who also works in the construction field, told this media house that being hit, he spun around and held on to the hand in which the man had the firearm.
“In defence of myself, I held on to the man’s hand in which he had the gun and pushed it upwards to avoid being shot. He then wrapped on his legs around mine in an attempt to throw me on the ground. I however pivoted on the ball of my foot and he fell to the ground and I also fell but on top of him while still holding on to the hand with the gun.
“During this time, I started shouting for help and a man dressed in barber’s clothing came to my rescue and took the gun out of the man’s hand. The barber told me to get up off the ground and so did the other man. However, after he got on his feet, he grabbed my right hand and bit me twice on the upper part of it.
“It was only then I got to know that he was a police officer, because when the barber came over us while we were on the ground, he said, ‘Plain clothes officer do you need my assistance?’ and the man below me said, ‘Get this man off of me.’ I in turn told the barber that the man wanted to shoot me and before I get off of him he must first relieve him of the gun.”
Stevens further said that one Corporal Sampson arrived on the scene, arrested him and took him to the Basseterre Police Station, where he asked him if he knew that the man he fought with was a police officer.
“I told Corporal Sampson that I didn’t know the man was a police officer because he did not identify himself. Any good or professional police officer would have approached me differently and investigate before hitting me with a gun and biting me as if he belongs to the Canine Unit.
“I was then given four charges which include beating a police officer and a drug charge that I know nothing about. I was placed in custody until Sunday when my mother and my girlfriend came and bailed me. The bail was $6 000 with two sureties and I have to go to court on December 3 to answer my bail.”
SKNVibes today (Nov. 13) visited the scene of the incident and spoke with a number of individuals, including Ms. Lewis, who admitted that she was the one who swore and not Stevens.
Two males and one female, on condition of anonymity, corroborated Steven’s account of the incident and informed that the barber, who works at Top Class Barber Shop on Pond Road, is a reserve member of the St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force.
When contacted, the Police Press and Public Relations Officer, Inspector Lyndon David, confirmed that Stevens was charged and placed on bail, but he could not comment on the allegations made against the police officer.
