The last time Luke Collymore was in the news it was July of 2003 when police had allegedly split his tongue while he was in their custody. Today Collymore is once again in the news and he is again complaining of police brutality. Collymore says yesterday afternoon he was in a fender bender at the Cemetery Road and Central American Boulevard roundabout when a police mobile patrol pickup pulled up. Collymore says it from a traffic mishap to a confrontation and a short while later he was again on the receiving end of excessive force. Collymore spent the night in police lock down and was taken to court this morning. He is out on bail and told us his story.
Luke Collymore,
“My vehicle was parked up on the roundabout when the police came and told me what happened to this piece of junk you can’t park it here. So he went again and kicked my vehicle telling me what happened to this piece junk you can’t park it here. So I told him they crashed into me and if he is a idiot or something. He just got angry and told me I have to go with them to the station because they would charge me for insulting words. So he told me I have to move the vehicle from there and told him I can’t move it until the traffic department comes because it is an offense to leave the scene of a crime. They told me no and that they are the police and they can move me. I told my wife and kids are in my car and I can’t move the vehicle. Anyway we moved the vehicle after the traffic department came and I went home to my house. I told them I will go with you to the station but just allow my wife to come with me. They told me no they didn’t want my wife to come and they wanted to cuff me. They tried to put on the handcuff and I told them no and to listen because my wife will come with me and I will go peacefully. They didn’t want to hear that and they said let’s go. The police came and grabbed me around my neck and I moved. I told him I will go to the station and you don’t have to knock me I am not giving any trouble. Right then the police started hitting me. I was defending myself and when I went to the station they locked me up. They and me up there and they were doing me a lot of things.”
“They put me by a wall and they just started knock me in my throat. They put a gun to my head and told me don’t even make plans because you won’t even live long, you will die soon. All this while I was standing there and I couldn’t knock any of them back or defend myself because if I did they could shoot me and say I was trying to do something. Look at how my mouth look, this is what the police did to me. The police got a small scar on his finger and he charged me for harm which he said I did. How could I harm him when he punched me in my mouth? This is too much. In less than one year I have the same run-ins with the police and it will get worse after this because they will just want to target me even more.”
A doctor classified Collymore's injury as wounding. Collymore meanwhile was charged in court with harm of a police officer, aggravated assault, and using indecent words. He was released on $800 bail. Collymore says he plans to file a complaint with the PD's internal affairs and the Ombudsman.