The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE mother of Lasheiko Pratt is demanding an independent autopsy after her son died during a struggle with four police officers inside the Fox Hill Police Station, saying she does not accept official claims about what happened and believes police brutality may be responsible.

Cheryl Larrimore spoke with The Tribune after she and her daughter identified her son’s body at the morgue. She said she saw no visible bruises or marks and described her family as confused, grieving and distrustful of the police account.

“Everybody is very upset and very sad about the situation, because, knowing the nature of him, he was a very nice, quiet person,” Ms Larrimore said. “It don’t add up. It look fishy and suspicious. He gone in there, healthy, good as ever, and then come out in a body bag. That cannot be.”

“Something ain’t right.”

Ms Larrimore said the family is seeking justice and intends to pursue legal action.

“You can’t trust the police, because if he gone up there with the police, he’s supposed to be in good hands,” she said. “If you can’t trust the police, who you could trust?”

Pratt, 35, who worked as a mechanic with the Ministry of Works, had been in police custody for two days on burglary charges and was scheduled to appear in court when the incident occurred shortly after 10am on Thursday.

Ms Larrimore said she was already at the Magistrate’s Court that morning, prepared to sign bail for her only son, but he never appeared.

“They show me his name on the list to appear to court, but no appearance,” she said. “I all about looking. So I go on to CDU, I still didn’t know. They didn’t call me to say nothing about my son dying in their custody.”

She said she only learned of her son’s death through social media.

“My daughter, she’s the one say she saw it upon Facebook, a 35-year-old dead in Fox Hill, in the station out there.”

In-custody deaths involving police are rare. Before Pratt’s death, the two most recent cases involved Jamie Smith, 33, and Aaron Rolle, 20, which happened within 24 hours of one another in February 2013.

Police have said Pratt, who had no children, died after officers intervened when he refused to leave his cell to attend court. Assistant Commissioner of Police Anton Rahming told reporters outside the station on Thursday that officers were forced to act after the detainee repeatedly resisted instructions.

He said two officers initially attempted to escort Pratt, but two additional officers were called when he allegedly became aggressive. He said during efforts to restrain and handcuff him, the detainee held onto an officer and was eventually subdued, at which point officers realised he had become unresponsive.

ACP Rahming said the force used was what officers believed was necessary to secure the detainee and noted that he had shown signs of aggression earlier that morning.

Ms Larrimore rejected that explanation, saying she had not received a single phone call from her son while he was in custody and did not even know he had been taken to Fox Hill Police Station until after his death was reported online.

She said the burglary charge arose from a complaint by a neighbour with whom her son had a troubled history. Pratt was arrested at his mother’s home off Faith Avenue.

“It always was a problem with his neighbour with him,” she said. “It’s like his neighbour was jealous and some kind of jealousy. He gonna say he thief something off his car. He don’t need to thief nothing off his car. He was working.”