7 News Belize

Man Run Over By Police Mobile
posted (May 29, 2020)
54-year-old Teakettle resident Roy Lincoln Vansen was killed last night in Camalote when he was knocked down by a police mobile.

It happened deep into curfew hours, just after midnight, at the entrance of Camalote village. It's a sad and sudden ending for the man also known as "short man" or "little feet" - due to a congenital deformity.

It's harsh, but he lived without anyone really wanting to have him around, and he died like he hardly mattered at all.

Cherisse Halsall found out more:

He's a well-known figure in Belmopan's market area, a handyman who takes on all manner of odd jobs in exchange for small sums. And to do so he made a daily commute from Teakettle village traversing sometimes by bus and sometimes on foot, a road that would have been well known to him and the road where last night he met a tragic end.

Zelda Banner, Friend & Neighbor
"Last night after 12 they called me and told me that they knocked him down I think in front of chicken on the run and they said that he died on the spot but they didn't say anything else after that until this morning when they said that a police vehicle knocked him down."

"He came and he lived here, my mom decided to help him out because she was sorry for him. We called him my big brother because you know he was older than all of us and we ran jokes with him. He liked to play with the kids, liked to make fun with them but he liked to drink too."

Roy had previously lived with cousins, but they say it was difficult to tolerate his excessive drinking.

Tom Sedacy, Cousin of the deceased
"I had him here for a while and thing but the drinking he used to drink hard, he still drinks hard but he's a handy bwoi in Belmopan and all because he have people who he works for so he gets his little money and he comes home."

"It was the drinking that made him not stay here with me because when we want to talk to him and we're telling him about that but he gets angry he feels a way. So he just picked up and he gone."

Zelda Banner, Friend & Neighbor
"He was crippled in one foot and kind of mental."

Cherisse Halsall:
"So do you think Roy was aware of what was going on with the curfew?"

Zelda Banner, Friend & Neighbor
"Well I don't think so because you know he didn't really have that in mind like he doesn't really know what's going on around here sometimes, so I don't think he really knew he wore his mask,that I know for sure, he didn't travel without it."

But despite perfect mask etiquette Roy seems to have broken curfew. Police say he'd been socializing at a home, leaving just after midnight

Joseph Myvette, ACP
"Three police officers were on board a police mobile patrol westbound when upon the driver reaching miles 49 and 50 a dark complexioned male person suddenly came onto the highway and was unavoidably hit by the police mobile. As a result, the ambulance was called to the scene however at that time the person was already motionless."

Reporter:
"Sir do you guys know whether. Vansen was intoxicated at that time?"

Joseph Myvette, ACP
"We are not sure but that will be determined at the postmortem."

This afternoon the commissioner seemed to give his condolences not to the family but to the officer responsible.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It is an unfortunate situation for us. The police officer in question, arrangements are going to be made for him to undergo counseling because for him it is hard as well. It's not something easy to know that you have taken the life of someone unintentionally."

Roy's adopted family is mourning but they feel they have barely any recourse for answers from the police.

Zelda Banner, Friend & Neighbor
"We don't know what to do, because we are shocked ourselves because what can we do, you know, what can we ask them?"

A postmortem examination should determine whether Vansen was intoxicated at the time of his death.

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