There are growing calls for the suspension of a St. Vincent police officer. This follows an incident in Georgetown in which a man who was apparently resisting arrest even after he was placed in handcuffs received what many deemed a violent beating from the law man.
The incident has arisen at a time when the police are trying to improve their image with the public and bring violent crimes under control.
A video that has surfaced shows a police struggling with the man to place him in handcuffs in the back of a police vehicle. However, even after the officer managed to do such, the man in handcuffs was slapped on multiple occasions.
The incident reached its pivot when the man in handcuffs received a punch to the face, after which he apparently lost his balance and began tilting forward. He was, however, held up by another man, seemingly a police officer not in uniform.
As the handcuffed man was placed in an erect position, he was then aggressively pushed into a sitting position, where he received a forceful slap from the seemingly enraged officer.
There have been growing calls for a full investigation and the immediate suspension of the officer.
A senior lawyer told the St. Vincent Times that while arresting people who are resisting arrest could be frustrating, the actions of the officer while the man was in handcuffs were inhumane and ought not to have transpired.
While many people in the video could be heard telling the man to behave and allow the police to do their job, many have now said the officer’s behavior towards the man after he was placed in handcuffs was not called for.
