In the last segment we told you that police arrested 17 year old Kareem Francis for gunning down 15 year old Jomo Lamb on Baracat Street last night. As we reported, police believe Francis didn't act alone and the murder investigation is still open. At 5:30 this morning those investigations led police to a home on Arlington Drive. Police say that acting on a tip they went hunting for a teenage boy and a loaded gun. They found the 15 year old but no gun. But the search left a bitter after taste in the family's mouth. They say police destroyed their home. We got a look.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This afternoon Joseph Matura showed me the path of destruction which he says was left by police who stormed into his family's home on Arlington Drive early this morning. Joseph says that all this mess you see was caused by the police - he alleges that the CIB officers flipped his bed, threw pots and pans on the floor, cut a hole in the bottom of their sofas, broke the door on the wardrobe, and even shot a hole in the ceiling.
Joseph Matura,
"The four CIB officers came this morning, 5:30, knocked on the door and said they were police. And when we opened the door, one of my cousins was standing here and the man (police) took out his gun and shot it in the roof.
Then he took out a knife and started to cut up the chairs and thing and said they were looking for firearms and thing. They took a knife and brought the chairs outside and cut the chairs for nothing and the mattress."
Keith Swift,
So they cut your furniture?
Joseph Matura,
"Yes and they broke up this thing. And then the man asked me how we got these things. I explained to the man that from my mother died a year and change ago, Erleen Blease, these are for her. And we were just thinking of fixing the house and thing over and the man they just come and destroy the house."
But Joseph says the ordeal didn't end there. He says the plain clothes officers then slapped handcuffs on his 15 year old nephew Jerry Matura.
Joseph Matura,
"They took him from here and took him into my part and started to choke him up and slapping him and beating him and asked him for the gun. The young man said he didn't have any gun and they just started to abuse the young boy for nothing."
Keith Swift,
And he is how old?
Joseph Matura,
"I am not really sure how old he is but I would say about fifteen or fourteen the most. Its sad that they beat the young man for nothing and the young man doesn't know about any gun."
Matura says he knows the police were doing their job but he says they could have gone about it a different way.
Joseph Matura,
"The man they should have come in a nice way but they came in an ignorant way. They just came and hauled out their guns and pointed it in our faces and thing and they started to beat us for nothing. To tell you the truth I really feel bad about this because this is terrible. I don't like this at all. I know they are doing their job and thing but I don't like how they came, they came in an ignorant way. They are people just like us, not because they have power over us because they are police."
Supt. Chester Williams, C.I.B. Commander
"I did not see any damaged property or any damaged household items. Apart from the fact that the police had to use certain force because of the way they were acting, I do not see any wrongdoing on the part of the police officers."
CIB Chief Chester Williams stands behind his officers and refutes that his officers fired shots in the Matura household. Moreover Williams says he has no sympathy for the Matura family. He says his officers were armed with a search warrant and they were looking for guns and drugs in relation to a recent shooting. He says the 15-year-old suspect is still detained.
Supt. Chester Williams,
"He is still detained and he will be here until we are through with him. The fact that they went to the media will not discourage the police from doing what we're doing because if you look at it right now: the trend is that it is the same fifteen year olds who are out there on the street running around with firearms, committing crimes. So we need to be hard on them and if it takes going to their homes, we will do that."
The Police's Internal Affairs Department is investigating the complaint by the Matura family.
