Twenty year old ex-police constable -Dennis Card was shot around 7:30 last night by police. Card who is a resident of Plues Street, was riding his bicycle off Central American Boulevard and into Neal's Penn Road - when he police stopped him. They say that Card stopped, jumped off his bike and ran into an open lot and tried to take something out his pocket. Police say that's why they shot him in the right heel.
A search of the area led to the discovery of three live 9mm rounds of ammunition. Dennis Card was escorted to the KHMH, where he was treated and released into Police Custody and is presently detained pending charges.
Today his mother stopped by our studios and told us that those bullets were planted on her son and that her son is locked up tonight behind bars when he did nothing wrong:..
Victoria Claunch, Mother of Dennis Card
"I'll be honest, my son went to buy a weed they say and police saw and chance him and try to get the weed from him and because they couldn't get it from him they shot him. After that they plant the bullet on him to try to cover up what they did - to say that he had a bullet. They say that they found a scissors on him. They shoot him and took him to the station and charge him for aggravated assault. Aggravated assault is when you take a weapon and swing it at someone. He wasn't doing that - they have no right to shoot him and then tell a lie that he assaulted them. That's not true - everyone in the area says that he went to buy weed and they wanted to get in from him but they couldn't because he swallowed it. My son didn't have anything on him. That is very wrong and I think that God will punish that police officer and I will take him to court because they took and innocent boy's pride from him and they put him in jail. I cry when I saw my son in handcuff and going to jail. He was riding out there, he came from a mother and I Love him and the police officer didn't have any right to do that - that is so wrong - that is unjustifiable that Mr. Gongora did to my son."
20 year old Dennis Card was taken to the Belize Central Prison today after he was charged with kept ammunition without a gun license and aggravated assault.
Card was arraigned in the Magistrate's Court where he pleaded not guilty to the charges, but because it is an ammunition offence, remand is automatic. Chief magistrate Margaret McKenzie remanded him into custody until August 10.
According to the court details, Detective Sergeant Santiago Gongora reported that when he approached Card to detain him, card attacked him with a half of scissors and he had to shoot card in his foot to subdue him - an account which we note with concern differs slightly from the one sent out on the police press release - which said he simply went into his pocket.
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