The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

A PREGNANT woman said police are refusing to fully investigate her claims of being shot by a “trigger happy” officer in late November.

Nicole Newbold, a 29-year-old resident of East Street, said that the lack of effort by the Royal Bahamas Police Force to look into her claims has pushed her to the breaking point after not being able to work for about a month.

According to Ms Newbold, during the waning moments of a gathering for a family member, two officers entered the group and requested that the music be turned down.

She said one officer was dressed in blue overalls and the other in khaki.

Ms Newbold said the officers indicated that they were responding to reports of gunshots and loud music in the area. The 29-year-old said it was at this time that the persons in the group started to shout at the officers.

She said: “After the crowd started to say things you could tell the police in the blue got upset. You could see he was mad.”

Ms Newbold claimed that the officer then indicated that he was “trigger happy”.

She said that it was at that moment things took a turn for the worse.

“The deejay was in the process of leaving the party when someone threw a bottle at the two officers. The bottle landed near the officer in the blue, and that is when he shouted back. He said that if the bottle had hit him that we would have had another funeral to attend.”

Ms Newbold claimed that those words jump-started an argument that resulted in the officer dressed in blue overalls firing six shots in the immediate area of the crowd, one of which hit her in the hand.

Ms Newbold said that she wasn’t immediately aware of being shot.

“My first reaction was to hold my stomach. When I looked down I saw the blood and realised something wasn’t right. I realised I got shot in the hand, my blood was all on the ground.”

Ms Newbold describes the weeks following this incident as the toughest process of her life. She believes police do not want to investigate the matter because they are protecting their own.

“It was a hassle for my statement to be taken,” she said.

“They never indicated that the police fired the shot. He told the driver that someone or some people were running through the yard firing guns and that is how I got shot. He never said that the officer with him fired his gun.”

Ms Newbold said that not only can she identify the officer who shot her, but also the officer wearing khaki that night. She said that she has reached out to a number of high ranking RBPF officials who have given her “the run around treatment”.

“I have tried to reach out to the commissioner, other officers and the Complaints Unit, but no one has stepped up to bring justice in this case.

“I have a baby on the way and I have a family to take care of. I can’t work, my hand will not allow it. I cook for a living and now I can’t work.

“No one wants to give me justice in this matter and that is all that I am after. I just want justice for what was done to me.”

Police did report Ms Newbold’s injury in a crime report.

However at the time, they said a woman was shot in the hand while attending a party. Police initially dismissed her claims of being shot by an officer and told reporters that police went to the party in response of complaints of gun shots being fired.

When contacted by The Tribune in reference to this matter, Chief Superintendent Paul Rolle said the matter was under investigation. He assured the reporter that the RBPF is doing everything it can to bring resolution to the case.