Cops to be treated for trauma

THE FOUR officers from the Northeastern Division Task Force identified in the fatal shooting of Galene Bonadie at Morvant on Friday evening are to begin treatment for trauma today. According to police sources, the four officers are to undergo intense trauma treatment following the incident which led to Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs ordering an investigation. The officers claimed they received a report of two men acting suspiciously in a car at Vegas, Morvant. The men were challenged but escaped. Sometime later, the officers received another report that the men were seen in the area and this time they were able to stop them. On opening the vehicle, the officers roughly pulled them out resulting in an exchange of words and a scramble which led to an outcry from residents who had gathered around.

The officers said the angry residents converged on them and started beating them about the body, while members of the crowd attempted to wrest a gun from one of the officers, causing it to go off. The bullet hit Bonadie, 41, former common-law wife of well known Morvant resident, Sean Francis, killing her instantly. Bonadie was placed in a police vehicle and rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. When Newsday visited the station, senior officers were expressing support for their subordinates. “These guys are innocent. They are victims of an attack by an angry mob and the gun went off while they were trying to prevent it from getting into the hands of the wrong people. There is no way these trained officers will go into a crowd and shoot anyone.

“Right now these officers cannot come to terms with what happened — an innocent life lost by accident.” Residents are denying the police version of the event. “Galene was an innocent bystander on her way to work. She stopped by the surging crowd and was shot innocently. The cop just cocked his gun and fired,” one eyewitness said Senior officers could not say why the woman, who appeared to be dead, was still carried to the Emergency Department of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. ASP Nadir Khan, who was appointed by CoP Everald Snaggs to investigate the shooting, was supposed to have handed over the results at 10 am yesterday to Deputy Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul. DCP Paul told Newsday, however, that investigations are continuing.

The United National Congress (UNC) added its voice to the public outcry over the fatal shooting yesterday, call for an independent inquiry into the matter. In an official statement, the Opposition party expressed deep concern about the circumstances surrounding the killing. “While the Opposition appreciates that the job of the police is a difficult one, given the current unprecedented crime wave, indiscriminate acts of brutality on the part of the police against citizens cannot be a method of dealing with crime,” the UNC said.