El Dorado man claims cop dented his skull

An El Dorado man is calling for a thorough investigation into a beating he claimed he received at the hands of a police officer during the Carnival season. When Wayne Clarke, a labourer attached to the Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation visited Newsday’s office yesterday, there was a distinct dent across his forehead to the right side of his face. When asked how it got there, he gave an account of his story. Clarke said the incident took place on Carnival Monday morning in the Tunapuna area. He said he had just finished playing Jouvert in Tunapuna and was making his way home when he met a vendor friend of his.
 
“When I see my partner, I shouted out to him in a joking manner, boy you too expensive yes!” said Clarke. Clarke said after his comments, a police officer on duty, who was standing nearby, walked up to him and struck him in the back with a baton. “I asked him why he did that, because I did not say or do anything disrespectful, and for that, the officer then struck me in the face with the baton. That is how I got this dent on my face.” Clarke said all he could remember after being hit was falling to the ground, getting up after a while and staggering home. Clarke told Newsday he lives alone in El Dorado, and he knows for sure he made it home by himself. Details after reaching home are still sketchy to the man claiming police brutality, but said he ended up in the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he spent three days and was treated for a fractured skull.

“When I came out of the hospital, I went to the Tunapuna Police Station and met with Sgt Nelson. He took a statement from me concerning the incident. I made it clear to him I did not know the officer by name, however if I saw him I would be able to point him out. The officer was not at the station when I gave my statement, but when I was leaving I saw him and I pointed him out to the Sargent,” said Clarke. Since then, Clarke said he has not heard anything from the police. All efforts to contact the investigating officer at the Tunapuna Police Station proved futile. Clarke said he will be taking the matter to the Police Complaints Authority.