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We asked the Compol today if it was excessive:

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"The information is that the young man in question had threatened, I think, his sister with a knife. Police went there. And as you can see in the video that is circulating that the police asked the young man where the knife was and, he said, which knife? And then he, as if he made a move as he was going to stand up to the police and the police hit him with a view to put him back in his place. And then the corporal who was there also seeing that he was still trying to raise up again, the corporal also hit him. Now,, I would be the first to admit that maybe to some extent, the force used by the police may be a bit excessive, but at the same time, we have to be real and look at the situation that the police found himself in. Even when the police were asking him for the knife, he said, "which knife"? But after the police hit him and he moved a bit to the right, the knife was right there under him. You saw when the corporal eventually picked up the knife off the bed, which means that he had the knife. And despite being asked, he said "which knife?" And he could have at any time taken that knife and used it, even against the police who went there. So in the instance, for what took place. While I believe that the force may be a bit excessive, I think that they acted reasonably in trying to to deal with the situation that confronted him."

Jules Vasquez
"Now the young man had to be taken to Southern Regional, I think they said his arm was dislocated. Is there any update and how did his arm get dislocated?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It's not by the police. So, let's make that clear. His arm was not dislocated by the police. And, efforts have also been made to record statements from him, and he's not cooperating. His family is not cooperating either. And, at the end of the day, like I said, the police went to that house to deal with the situation that could have, perhaps resulted in the death of somebody."

Jules Vasquez
"By your actions in the case of Sergeant Makin, you have normalized the pistol whip as a standard means of suppression, of which, you know, it's totally irregular, but you have now normalized it, by not taking any sanction against Sergeant Makin."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Jules, you always have your own theory: "Normalize." I don't I don't see how it can be viewed as normalizing something. If a police officer, wantonly pistol whipped somebody, certainly that is not going to fly with me. But if a police officer is acting in the course of his duty and have no other means and uses his hand that contains a weapon and hit someone with a view to calm that person down, I am not going to kill that policeman for doing so."

Jules Vasquez
"If you accept that you slapping someone with a pistol is an inappropriate use of a lethal weapon. are you able to at least make a declaration on that? Because twice you've said that officers have gone to punch, but they had a pistol in their hand, which, as you know, is not an acceptable justification. You have a deadly weapon in your hand, if it misfires, or if it accidentally fires, you can kill someone."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Like I said though, I have conceded that the force used is somewhat excessive."

Jules Vasquez
"But not the force, it's the technique. You have to distance yourself from the technique."

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"And that's the reason why we're trying to find other methods. I do agree that it is extremely dangerous because anything could go wrong with that gun. Right? I agree with you."