Channel 7NEWS in Belize City confirmed that according to Assistant Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie, the Police Department has decided to act decisively on a case of extreme police abuse during an incident that occurred on New Year’s Eve.
A recommendation will be made to the Security Services Commission that the officer in charge of San Pedro ASP Patt will be placed on interdiction and made to face disciplinary charges. Five other officers here at the San Pedro formation will also be placed under interdiction from duty and will also be made to face disciplinary charges.
This decision from the Assistant Commissioner comes after 24 year old, San Pedro resident Ryan Requena made a report to the Internal Affairs Department in which he was brutally beaten by San Pedro Police Officers.
Ryan Requena, a chef on the island, got caught up in an argument between a husband and wife on New Year’s Eve. He says he ended up punching the husband out and that’s what led police to his house where they found some marijuana. He says the marijuana was planted but what happened next defies description; in fact the pictures will tell this story.
“They went and planted weed in my house so that they could get me to the station and then they ended up giving my wife bail but they didn’t want to give me bail,” said Ryan Requena to 7NEWS. “Then later in the night they beat me, beat me, and beat me – over and over again.”
Ryan says that the beating went on for about two to three hours as police locked him in a room where he was repeatedly whipped with a baton, rubber hose and sprayed with pepper spray. According to Ryan, the police officers never questioned him about what happened during the incident with the husband and wife but just started to torture him.
Ryan is currently not working due to the severity of his injuries and bruises. “I cannot work right now because of the pain I am feeling. I got a month off from work,” he stated. “I am feeling all sorts of discomforts. It is hard to sleep at night because I can’t lay down on my back good; my fingers feel numb from the handcuffs.”
Police Press Officer G. Michael Reid confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation by senior officers and that the claim of brutality is being taken seriously. He says the commissioner has made it clear that if there is any evidence of wrongdoing he will take it to full extent of law. (Source 7NEWS)
