The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

THE family of Garth Harrison III was stunned after a Coroner’s Court jury ruled yesterday that the 24-year-old’s police-involved killing in 2019 was a justifiable homicide.

Harrison was shot near Sequoia Street in Pinewood Gardens on October 25, 2019. Officers DC 3569 Brown and DC 3557 allegedly engaged him and two other suspects in a car chase after they saw them speeding against traffic flow in a red Honda Accord.

During the pursuit, it was alleged there was a gun fight and Harrison was shot in his stomach.

The chase ended when his car collided with a fence and burst into flames.

Authorities helped rescue the suspects from the burning vehicle before taking Harrison to the hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Harrison’s official cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the pelvis, which caused extensive bleeding to his abdominal cavity.

One of the two other passengers pulled from the crash escaped on foot.

 A burned 9mm pistol and magazine were allegedly recovered from the scene.

 The family of the deceased maintains that Harrison was unarmed at the time of the incident.

 K Melvin Munroe, who represented the officers, argued that Harrison was caught in the crosshairs of friendly fire and was shot from the front by one of his accomplices. Mr Munroe said his clients were responsible for no wrongdoing and helped the suspects after their car crashed.

 Calvin Seymour, who represented the deceased’s estate, claimed there was no firearm near Harrison at the time of the incident and that the man held his hands up after police retrieved him from the wreck. He called his death an unjustified execution.

 Maneiko Marshall, the deceased’s uncle, told The Tribune after the verdict that the family was not satisfied with the results. He claimed authorities intentionally failed to conduct a ballistic report because it would have shown foul play.

 “The verdict today don’t make no sense,” he said, adding police did not show evidence why his nephew was shot.

“They couldn’t tell how much bullets was fired from the gun,” he said. “They didn’t do no ballistic test, no nothing.”

 The jurors could have returned a result of homicide by manslaughter, homicide by murder or an open verdict.

 Acting Coroner Kara Turnquest-Deveaux presided over the inquest. Angelo Whitfield marshalled the evidence.