Today, the acting Prime Minister and the Minister of Education and Youth Patrick Faber also commented on the lamentable case - where so many things went wrong.
Faber mostly shied away from the issue - acknowledging only that it is a complicated case for the teenager's parents, the police and the Youth Hostel:
Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister Responsible for Youth
"I have not seen the video myself. Actually, I got glimpses in the news last night. But, from what I am told, we need to be careful about how we jump on these situations. The young lady, very regrettably, is a very troubled young person. I'm told - in fact you've heard from the news last night, her father speaks about how difficult she was the control in the home. And then, the people at the Youth Hostel have a very difficult time in terms of controlling behavior there as well. It is not pointing fingers at anybody. I think when we have - these situations exist, and they are real. And we're not always very versed in terms of handling this situation. The police have a job to do, in fact, whenever the people at the Hostel cannot contain situations, or they cannot control the behavior there, of course, they will call on the police. So, the police have a role to play. All that I can hope for is that these situations teach us that there is a situation that may arise that need better training in terms of handling."
"By tearing down the police, pointing fingers, and calling names the police have enough on their hands."
Reporter
"Sir, this is a female minor. The video shows 2 adult male police officers. One chokehold her, and the other one punches her a couple of times in her face. That, everyone would say, is abuse and excessive force by these police officers."
Hon. Patrick Faber
"Again, I am not going - I don't know all of those details, and I'm don't feel comfortable enough to condemn in this regard."
"I don't know the circumstances of what situation the young lady was in when the police accosted her. So, I simply am not going to go there. I don't have enough information to go where you want me to go."
It is expected that the young lady has been returned to custody at the Youth Hostel - which is where her family had placed her saying they were having a hard time controlling her.
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