The Tribune

THE teenage son of a police officer died after he was stabbed during an altercation at Arawak Cay on Saturday night.

The incident has renewed safety concerns in the area and prompted some workers to chide police for not being more visible despite a police station being on site.

A male suspect has been arrested and is assisting police with their investigation. Police said the victim is a teenager, however his exact age was not released up to press time.

In a tweet yesterday, Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle said a team of officers visited their colleague Cpl McPhee to give support after his son was fatally stabbed at the Fish Fry. He said he also extended his condolences to the officer on behalf of the police force.

According to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, officers were called to the scene of a stabbing after 11pm.

“On the arrival of the first responding officers, they found a male suffering from stab wounds to the chest,” a police crime report noted. “The victim was transported to the hospital via Emergency Medical Services where he later succumbed to his injuries.”

The Tribune canvassed the popular dining and hang out spot yesterday.

One worker in the area gave this newspaper an account of what he saw on Saturday night.

He said he saw a verbal altercation progress into a physical fight that turned into a street brawl with a group of men.

“They (ended up). . .in the street and after that that’s when I saw like four guys was sticking up on him. He was able to get loose but…he started to bleed. I guess he try to run away because the police was going after, I guess the person who was fighting with him. He try run in the parking lot. So police run after the boys them.

“They picked up the person who got stabbed. They carried him in the police station. The ambulance came like 20 minutes later and they got the guy,” the worker said.

There is a police station at Arawak Cay, however the worker said he feels the officers there are “slack.”

“I feel like they should have more persons checking the young people because it’s getting really ridiculous….it’s actually (a) tourist area.

“Last night we had people eating…they just say ‘wow is this a fight.’ After a while, there’s a next fight and all the children was running this way and they got scared and they start running towards the entrance.”

He added: “I just feel the police on Fish Fry really like slack. They fighting right on the police station. Why y’all not patrolling?”

Tamara Armbrister, of KOK Hut, agreed there should be more security at the venue.

“It’s (a regular) thing every Saturday or Sunday. They always is end up having a fight out here,” she said.

She said there have been fights “once or twice” at her establishment.

“Majority on this side are females. So police, they come you know, but it isn’t frequent. They’ll come Saturday and Sunday. You’ll see police out here, but on weekdays they ain’t coming and it’s Christmas time and boys (are) robbing here.

“Me personally I don’t take the chance. Either my nephews come out here when I’m closing up or my boyfriend comes out here. Where we have cameras, you have to put cameras (at) your place.”

When contacted about these concerns and asked if police planned to beef up their presence at Arawak Cay, Assistant Superintendent Audley Peters said, “The complement of officers there are sufficient. It simply was an unfortunate situation that happened where youngsters got involved in an argument and didn’t resolve it in an amicable manner.

“. . .We have sufficient or adequate officers stationed at that location.”

Asked if there will be more officers dispatched there if vendors agitate for this, ASP Peters said, “There will be a meeting among stakeholders and if we think that is necessary, then we’ll simply add additional (officers), but to say that is necessary, we don’t see that being the case at the moment.”

Police are appealing to members of the public who may have information that can assist with this investigation and other criminal matters to contact the Criminal Investigations Department at 502-9991/2, Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS (8477) or the nearest police station.