The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Ellison Greenslade yesterday said the man who died in police custody on Saturday was arrested after a businessman reported he was on his property.

Mr Greenslade also revealed that police do not know the man’s identity and are referring to him as “John Doe”.

The man died in the Wulff Road Police Station.

The commissioner said the man was found lying on the floor of a cell, but he had no reason to believe foul play was involved.

Mr Greenslade’s remarks are the first time an official of the Royal Bahamas Police Force has released details on the custody death since police reported the matter in a brief statement over the weekend.

At a press conference at police headquarters yesterday, Mr Greenslade said police would have to circulate a picture of the deceased “in hopes that the public will come forward and identify the person.”

Mr Greenslade also ruled out the possibility of foul play by the RBPF. He said officers “deserve the respect” of Bahamian citizens.

“We do not know who the deceased person is,” Mr Greenslade said. “He is still being referred to as ‘John Doe.’ No member of the public has come forward to say who he might be or who he is in fact, and so I’ve asked the superintendent to move now to circulate – as best we can – his picture.

“What is going to be difficult for the public, and I’m going to ask the public to please be understanding of the difficult circumstances we find ourselves in, is that we will have – with the full concurrence of the medical authorities and certainly the authority of the coroner, to clean up the facial area of the deceased and to have a picture taken and circulated. It’s going to be rather difficult, but it’s the only means that we have now in hopes that the public will come forward and identify the person.”

“I’m satisfied, based on all of the information that I have received, that the police department has no particular difficulty in respect of this matter; that there is no police officer that I’m particularly concerned about or any behaviour or action that I’m concerned about on the date in question,” he added. “Everything in my view has been properly documented by the police and been dealt with. Her Majesty’s coroner has the file and will conclude the investigation.”

Mr Greenslade said the deceased was on the property of a business owner who, in fear of his presence, asked for police support. Police officers responded and took the man into custody “as per police policies and procedures,” he said.

Mr Greenslade said officers were later notified of the death of a person “locked in a cell” at the Wulff Road Police station on Saturday evening. He also said there were a number of independent witnesses, “sensible Bahamians”, in the cell block who saw what had transpired “prior to the alarm being sounded that something was wrong in the cell block.”

He said the body was left undisturbed while the coroner, Jeanine Weech-Gomez, was summoned to the police station.

Public trust

The commissioner also said citizens ought to trust police officers instead of always assuming the RBPF is hiding information.

“We say that the commissioner is a liar, the priest is a liar, the politician is a liar, our parents are liars, our colleagues are liars. We have set a very bad precedent. You’re going to have to believe somebody. The majority of (police officers) are decent Bahamian citizens and we are your family, relatives and friends. We’re not strangers. We deserve your respect.

“We have police officers who have run afoul of the law,” he added. “I never hesitate to exercise my authority to discharge them from the force. We have officers who were in breach of the law that we have charged before the criminal courts. They have been convicted before the criminal courts and subsequent to being convicted I have discharged them so that when they arrive at (the prison) they can wear the prison uniform and not the uniform of the people of this country, the RBPF. If there is one organization that is transparent, one organization that is willing to step up and say we are at fault, it’s this RBPF.”