Will Warmington be charged for F-bombing cops?
Published:Thursday | June 3, 2021 | 12:14 AM
Profanity-laced rants from two senior lawmakers have sparked concern from former Court of Appeal Justice Seymour Panton, who has questioned, in at least one instance, whether the police will charge a government minister for an offence.
The no-nonsense chairman of the Integrity Commission quipped earlier this week that “Parliament seems to be under a lot of stress recently”.
In a Gleaner interview on Monday, Panton said: “You have people in some part of the Parliament cursing bad words. You have some threatening to be their own judges in causes and others cussing policemen.”
Controversial lawmaker and government minister Everald Warmington, in a video circulated widely on social media, lashed out at the police outside the Old Harbour Bay Fisherman Co-operative building during curfew hours.
The date of the incident has not yet been ascertained, but Warmington was irate about the police presence, insisting that he was exempted from the restrictions.
In the exchange, Warmington was heard rebuking a senior cop for instructing one of his juniors to video-record him after declaring that he would be calling Horace Chang, the national security minister, and the police commissioner.
“Him come and draw gun!” Warmington said. “Minister, mi nah put up wid dis no more dung yah!” the MP exclaimed.
The senior cop rejected Warmington’s claim, saying he did not pull his gun.
“Nuh try dis sh*t wid mi, Supt,” Warmington retorted. “Di man pull him clip a draw f#%ing gun here ... . Dis bwoy can’t come tell mi what I’m exempt from.”
“I am watching to see what is going to happen with that one if the police are going to serve a summons for insulting language. We’ll see because I would not use those words to a policeman if I were a parliamentarian,” Panton said.
The Gleaner reported earlier that Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson had requested a full report on the incident involving Warmington and police from the St Catherine South Police Division.
In late March, Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson apologised for releasing an F-bomb in the Upper House of Parliament during a contentious exchange with Opposition Senator Lambert Brown.