On Monday's newscast we told you about the scary, unprecedented attack at the checkpoint at mile three on the Western Highway. At 1:30 am on Sunday, men in camouflage, equipped with night vision binoculars and high-powered automatic weaponry, crept up on the checkpoint from the bushes across the road and opened fire. Police and BDF ducked for cover and returned fire. No one was hurt but the police were left disturbed by the well coordinated attack - which came literally from out of nowhere.
And caught up in all this were two men who had the bad luck of driving up to the checkpoint just as the hail of bullets were raining down. On Sunday the police press office reported that the two men 36 year old Elvin Roberto Torres, and Reginald Young were detained for questioning.
The truth is only one of them, Young, was detained; the other, Torres was in the hospital. He showed us why today.
Jules Vasquez, Reporting
90 hours after beaten by the police Elvin Torres is still swollen. He is scared and his eyes hideously bloodshot. His morning began here at the mile 3 check point on Sunday at about 1:30 am when he was heading to his home in Jaguar Paw after a night of partying with friends. That's when he was unwittingly caught up in the confusion of a cross fire.
Elvin Torres, beaten by police
"As soon as I reach at the check point maybe about 10 yards away from the door of the check point, I noticed bullets bouncing off from the wall of the police booth. So I drove up to the door of the check point on the motion of going down in the truck and the other guy yielding too. I was asking where is the policeman, because I did not want to just drive cross their check point at that moment when I was already stopping, because they are going to say that I am the shooting. I know personally I wasn't. I stop to yield and help too. At that moment I did not see a police officer. I was asking where is the policeman? I heard a voice in the background because I did not see the policeman, I saw one BDF officer with a M16 rifle. I heard a voice in the back saying, 'go from here, aim at that vehicle and shoot it.' I kept asking 'where is the policeman' and the BDF officer pointed his gun at us. So I drove off with speed."
He got to the Hattieville roundabout where Police pulled him over
Elvin Torres
"When I reach the round-about, the police officers in front of me put on their headlights and their emergency lights and the one behind me did the same thing. I rapidly stop with no hesitation and the officers just bum-rush me out of the truck pointing guns at my face. They slap me inside of my vehicle, they told me "get out of the vehicle", they seem like they did not come to make an arrest, they came to kill me. They slap me in my face while I had my hands outside the vehicle. They drag me out of the vehicle and put me in a search position. One police officer kicks me in my side and I fell to the ground while the BDF officer pointed the gun to my face and started to stomp me in my face. He told me that if I move he will kill me. At that moment I just stayed right there."
They didn't but by that time his eyes were already almost completely swollen shut.
Elvin Torres
"They drove me right back to Belize City. On the way back they stopped at the check point while the officer was still kicking me in my face. I looked at him and said in my mind 'why do these people turn good people into bad people?' They took me to Queen Street Police Station and they had me parked outside on the road, everybody saw me, it was like a road show."
He was released from the hospital on Sunday and sent home - these pictures from his cell phone show how he looked at that time. He was never detained and never charged and now he's speaking out:
Elvin Torres
"I give them the right not to hit me but to investigate me, take me out of my car, search my car and if you find something incriminating and you know that I did something wrong, you could kick the hell out of me. Because I will not feel no way, but imagine how you feel when you are innocent."
"I went to the police station and told them that since their department was responsible for what they did to me if they could pay the medical bills. I need a cat scan and an eye check-up. They told me that they cannot do anything for me financially."
He says the hardest part has been explaining his injuries to his kids
Elvin Torres
"When I got home my kids start crying. My oldest son who is 10 yrs old, said, 'Daddy what did you got yourself into?' I told him son sometimes you don't have to get yourself in anything, you are just at the wrong spot at the wrong time. I told him, I have always tell you to respect the police but son from this very moment I am telling you whenever you see the police even if they are coming to help you, run away from them because the police are not here to help you or anybody."
Torres's passenger Reginald Young was briefly detained but not charged. The Police Press Office today confirmed Torres's complaint is being taken very seriously and a senior officer has been assigned to investigate internally and criminally. A Senior Police officer told Torres today that charges will be brought against the officers involved very soon.
Torres is a mechanic and has not been able to work since because he can't see well and he's been having headaches.
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