Man arrested for cursing dies in police custody

The family of 23-year-old Shaun Mc Leod is calling for an investigation into his death. Mc Leod died on Friday after being arrested by police for using obscene language.

When Newsday visited the family at their Kroomen Settlement, South Oropouche residence they said they wanted their questions answered and the matter to be investigated by the Police Commissioner. His common-law wife Mackiba Cowan said she got the news of his arrest from a friend Seon Andrews, before 10 pm on Friday. Her husband along with friend Seon Andrews and another man had left Douk’s Bar on Pointe-a-Pierre Road around 9 pm and walked to Library Corner. Mc Leod was contracted with Denny’s Enterprises and worked at the Point Lisas Atlas Methanol Plant. Cowan said she was told by Andrews that they went into the KFC restaurant but then left to go to the Royal Castle outlet. On their way there Mc Leod used obscene language and a van of police stopped to arrest him. She added that Andrews further told her the police held Mc Leod and attempted to handcuff him to a nearby post.

Andrews went to Cowan’s home and informed her of her common-law husband’s arrest. They then hurried to San Fernando. She said that at Library Corner one eye- witness told her, “They really beat that man and then carried him down.” Cowan said she reached the police station around 10.10 pm and started to enquire about Mc Leod’s whereabouts. She said that there were conflicting reports. Some said that he was not around while others said that he was taken to the hospital after he had collapsed in the cell. Cowan admitted, “From that I knew something was wrong.” An emotional Cowan continued by saying that she then left for the San Fernando General Hospital. When she arrived at the Accident and Emergency Department she asked the desk clerks about her husband. They said they knew nothing because the police had brought him in dead at 9.30 pm.

She felt it strange that the police also claimed that he was taken to the station at the same hour — 9.30 pm. She said that people witnessed Mc Leod being taken into the station alive. Cowan who is the mother of a two-month old baby, Shane, says she also intends to name him Shawn, in remembrance of his father. She is also pleading with witnesses to the alleged incident to come forward and provide evidence. Mc Leod’s mother Sharon Mc Leod said that she went to the police station around 2 am Saturday and pleaded for an explanation of the circumstances surrounding her son’s death. She said she “...wanted to know what was really going on, but everybody told a totally different story.” The mother of the deceased said that it was only around 8 am Saturday that they were allowed to view the body at the mortuary.  She said there was froth at the side of his mouth and his left wrist, left shoulder and around the fingers were swollen and “blue black in colour.”

She said also that his jersey was torn and wrapped around his neck while his pants was torn on both sides. She noted that his pair of steel-tipped boots was missing. His mother also said that her son normally received his $900 salary but police only gave them $51. She said one police woman told her they found “a couple of hundred dollars” on him. The saddened mother added, “Nobody deserve to die the way my son did, everybody knows my son as a real nice and respectful man, he was never a violent person.” The deceased’s mother added, “We want a total investigation into the matter, I can’t understand this situation. We want to get to the bottom of this.” A post mortem is to be conducted on the body today and senior officers said they would comment later.