Alleged killer cop removed from front line

The off-duty cop accused of fatally shooting 43-year-old Glester White in St D’Acre, St Ann, on Sunday has been removed from front-line duty as the police and the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) carry out their probes.

The policeman has also been summoned to an interview by INDECOM which is set for Tuesday.

But even as investigations have been launched, scores of residents took to the streets on Monday in a fiery protest over the killing.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ryan Gayle told The Gleaner that more than 100 residents protested on the streets between Lime Tree Gardens and St D’Acre.

The crowd dissipated after Gayle addressed the crowd, expressing condolences to White’s family and urging residents to come forward with information to assist a police probe.

“We’re talking about the loss of a life here in a community that is small and close-knit, so naturally, persons are going to be a bit uneasy, and we as the police need to be empathetic towards that while ensuring that normalcy, law and order prevail,” Gayle told The Gleaner.

Meanwhile, in a press statement on Monday afternoon, INDECOM’s Senior Public Relations Officer Denyelle Anderson said that investigators from its Central Regional Office are probing White’s killing.

INDECOM confirmed that the policeman, who has not been named, intervened in a dispute between White, who was reportedly armed with a machete, and residents over the sharing of a water tank.

White was shot multiple times and he fell into the water tank.

house, car torched

Enraged residents torched the cop’s Toyota Probox motor car as well as a resident’s house. The policeman’s girlfriend allegedly lived at the razed house.

Another cop who responded to the scene claimed that he was forced to discharge his firearm after residents stoned the police team.

Forensic evidence has been collected and will be submitted to the Government Laboratory for testing, INDECOM’s statement read.

Reports reaching The Gleaner are that there had been a dispute between White and some members of the community over the catching of water from a tank that is located on a property that he leased.

Some time ago, the tank needed repairs and White failed to get assistance from residents to undertake repairs. He fixed the tank himself and subsequently began limiting access to water.

On Sunday morning, a woman came to get water and was refused, which sparked a dispute. She then called a policeman who is said to be a relative.

White’s partner Dionne Palmer told reporters that she and the couple’s two young children, aged five and two, were on the veranda and saw what happened after the policeman arrived.

“The woman come and a cuss bad word and talk bout seh a parish tank and him nuh lease no land,” Palmer said.

“After that, her son-in-law come and start fire shot. Mi think a inna di air him fire di shot. Then mi see him (White) tun back way and drop inna di water (tank).”

She said that White was shot at least four times.

Palmer said her five-year-old son then shouted, “‘Daddy! Daddy! Dem shoot Daddy,” and started crying. The woman alleged that the accused cop also threatened other members of the family before a police team arrived and took him away.

Palmer said she planned to move out of the community, expressing fear that the cop would return to harm her family.