By: Staff Writer
March 12, 2021
The Royal Bahamas Police Force has launched an investigation into the allegations made by three young men who were held in custody with claims that the officers in charge had assaulted them.
The alleged incident was recorded by one of the suspects and in the audio, which Caribbean Magazine Plus has obtained a copy, you can hear a man identify himself as Assistant Superintendent Derrick Ferguson and then go on to verbally berate a suspect and then proceed to slap the suspect, all of which can be heard on tape.
The incident was recorded by one of the suspects with an iPhone watch, who can be heard telling “JJ” to “relax” as he gets slapped around by ASP Ferguson. Ferguson is also heard telling the man his name and screaming at him to “look at him” and to “not get him mixed up.”
The three young men, aged 19, 23 and 26, intend to take legal action in addition to their complaint filed with police, according to attorney Craig Butler, who represents one of the men.
Butler told the Eyewitness news that the young men — two of whom are brothers — were arrested as they were leaving the fish fry at Arawak Cay on February 28.
He said the men got into a dispute with two other young men as they attempted to leave the area.
“As they were moving away, the police came on the scene and took the two brothers into custody,” Butler said.
This is just the most recent incident of police brutality in The Bahamas as a similar incident happened in January of last year as vide went viral of police officers beating a group of young men in the downtown area of Nassau. Read Eyewitness news for the full report: https://ewnews.com/police-beating-videos-go-viral