Tonight, a police officer from the Cayo District is being investigated after he allegedly shot a man in the face. The victim is 25-year-old Jordy Usher, a resident of Georgeville Village. Police say that he tried to run from them when they discovered that he was driving an unlicensed motorcycle.
According to the cops, on Saturday night, they spotted a motorcycle in Santa Elena Town, heading to Esperanza Village. The motorcycle had no lights, or license plates, and the driver and passenger were not wearing any helmets.
Those are all serious traffic violations, and so, the cops attempted to get the driver to stop. The problem is that instead of complying, the driver, who has been identified as Jordy Usher, allegedly sped off and tried to escape from police. He did give those officers on mobile patrol the slip, but another team intercepted him in his home village of Georgeville. Usher allegedly crashed the motorcycle into a drain, trapping his passenger under it. But police say that instead of simply giving up, Usher attempted to flee on foot, and this from here on is what has the police high command concerned.
Up to this point, it appeared to be good police work, but the officer allegedly pulled out his weapon and fired a shot. He told his police bosses that it was a warning shot, which isn't meant to injure a suspect. Unfortunately, it is unclear where he actually aimed this "warning shot", but Usher suffered a gunshot injury to the right side of the cheek.
Here's what the head of the National Criminal Investigations Branch had to say about the case at today's press briefing:
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crime Investigation Branch
"On Saturday night, sometime around 9:30pm while San Ignacio police were on motorcycle patrol in Santa Elena Town, they observed a motorcycle east bound with two riders. At that point in time, the motorcycle didn't have any license plate; the riders didn't have any helmets and neither did the cycle have any headlamp nor rear light at that point, which caused the police then to pursue those persons on the cycle. However, they didn't stop and the police were unable to catch up with them. Another police team which was in Esperanza Village saw those persons coming on the motorcycle and signaled for them to stop, which they refused. As a result, the police officers in the police vehicle turned around pursued the cycle into Georgeville Village where the cycle crashed into a drain and the rider or driver of the cycle then jumped off and made good his escaped while the passenger remained trapped under the cycle. As a result, one of those officers pursued the person who was running and in the process he fired a warning shot. As a result, the person was later caught up with and was found to be one Jordy Usher 25 years old of a Georgeville address. He was observed with injury to the right cheek and as a result he was taken to the San Ignacio Community Hospital and later to the Western Regional Hospital., where he remains in a stable condition. An internal investigation has been launched into this matter, whilst police are trying to determine what exactly happened. The injuries were examined and later found that there may have been fragments of bullet inside his jaw. So as I mentioned this matter is under investigation."
The officer's name has not been released.
A press release from the police department says, quote, "The Commissioner of Police regrets the unfortunate incident… Following this incident, all protocols in relation to [the] officer's alleged involvement in a shooting incident was observed, and the firearm has been retained. The Commissioner has since order a full criminal and internal investigation into the matter." End quote.
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