A police corporal shot a man last night. The official story is that the officer was pursuing Lionel Sampson who had a weapon in his hand. When he didn’t give it up, Sampson was shot to the leg and finger. Sounds like a case where the use of force was justified, but Sampson’s family says it was not – in fact they saw it was a gross abuse of force and power. We’ll have both sides but first here’s the story from the family and the neighborhood on Iguana Street Extension.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
Twenty one year old Lionel Daniel Sampson lies in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital recovering from gunshot injuries he received reportedly at the hands of the police. It happened on Iguana Street Extension just before one this morning and area residents say what transpired was an outright abuse of power by one man sworn to uphold the law.
According to eyewitnesses the Corporal 910 Gavin Sanchez was driving on Iguana Street Extension when his car ended up on its side in this drain. Neighbours believe that Sanchez was chasing Sampson and that probably caused the car to end up in the muddy ditch. Eyewitnesses say Sanchez who appeared to be intoxicated then exited his vehicle and started firing shots at Sampson. Sampson ran off and slid under this small black car further down the street. Three of the bullets first hit another vehicle this parked Daihatsu. The lead slugs bore through the car’s front bumper, radiator and windshield.
According to the car owner Alvaro Avilez he was inside his house when he heard a slam, someone running and then gunshots. Avilez says as he looked through his window he saw a young man underneath his other parked car and the gunman by the vehicle.
Alvaro Avilez, Eyewitness
“The same man tell the boy to come from under my car, to come from under my car. How he will count from one to five down to one right? So five, four, three the boy bust two shots in the man’s leg. Then he gone round the front, the next side of the car and tell him I want to see your face because it is your head I want to shoot.”
Shantai Gill, Eyewitness
“Actually he was pulling his body under the car to support him from dying or something and he even bent down and counted 5,4,3,2, 1 and that is when I think the bullet hit the young man because he was blocking his face and he didn’t want to stop.”
Sampson reportedly raised his hand to protect his face and the bullet struck him in the right palm.
Evelyn Ovado, Mother of Shooting Victim
“Lionel is in the hospital. He got shot in his leg and his foot is broke and his hand.”
The residents claim they are the ones who called the police but according to them when the other cops arrived they quickly became suspicious of their behaviour at the scene.
Shantai Gill, Eyewitness
“Four troopers came and they start like shoving people out of the way and telling them to get off the scene and go home with obscene language. All of that wasn’t necessary. When the police came on the scene, they were actually picking up shells with their hands, tampering with the scene. And they even moved the police officer who shot the individual down there, they even moved his vehicle out of the drain, tampering with the crime scene and the evidence and that really doesn’t make any sense.”
The residents say what also did not make any sense was that after the authorities left the area, they were shocked when they saw Cpl. Sanchez return to the scene.
Carla Garbutt, Witness
“When I looked it was the same policeman in the same car three quarter of an hour after his arrest. He had just shot a civilian. Whether he was right or wrong, I think he should have been through an investigation, a proper investigation, and be released probably the next day. Because if they were doing the proper investigation, then he wouldn’t have been released half hour or three quarters of an hour after. He was looking in the drain and underneath the car and over here. He was looking over here, apparently he was looking for something. What it is, we cannot say he was looking for. First he said it was his cell phone. So how do we know what he was looking for? If the police had done their investigation properly, nothing would have been left for him behind so that he could have come and investigated what he was looking for.”
But what triggered the shooting? Well authorities say that Cpl. Sanchez was driving his vehicle when he saw Lionel Sampson walking on Iguana Street Extension with a firearm in his right hand and as a result he fired several shots that caused the injuries.
Evelyn Ovado,
“My son didn’t have any gun because if they shot him under the car…if they apprehended him and he had a gun, he would have had the gun under the car.”
Shantai Gill,
“He wasn’t armed, a lot of people could have seen that. I don’t know if they wanted to plant a gun on him but he didn’t have any weapon because in the short time when he was still firing, a lot of people were already out here.”
The residents further charge that Sampson appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.
Evelyn Ovado,
“He started to push and I told him who he was because he was drunk. The neighbors told me he had shot my son and he is drunk. He was up in my face and I was up in his face and his breath was directly in my face and rum was coming out of his breath.”
Alvaro Avilez,
“We didn’t even know he was in police because of the way he was going on, he was going on like a real bad man, understand, and that is abstract because then they shoot my car. I want my car fixed. I need my car fixed, this is my hustling."
The residents claim that Cpl. Sanchez fired at least eight shots. When we arrived on the scene this morning one of the bullets was still lying in a pool of blood under the small black car. Meanwhile one block away another bullet tore through the wall of Geraldine Castillo’s wooden house. That bullet then went through the bedroom into a partition wall and then bore through Castillo’s refridge exited and landed on the kitchen floor, just missing the butane tank.
Geraldine Castillo, Area Resident
“The bullet woke me up. I was so scared, I jumped off the bed and dropped on the floor and when I peeped out I see he the go on like a lunatic on the street. I me think it was a gunman, I think it was a gunman who come shot up my house. When I look it was a police officer. So I say well it look like the police they turn gunman now. He was in his pants, he did not have on his uniform shirt. He no even identified himself as a police officer. They cannot be about doing those things. He almost blow up my gas tank and I want him to pay back for my refridge.”
This morning a team of investigators led by Sinquest Martinez visited then scene, to collect whatever evidence remained and to interview residents.
Geraldine Castillo, Witness
“He should lose his job and because he give the rest of good policemen a bad name. Not all of the policemen bad but they don’t have business in the force Miss.”
Reporting for 7NEWS, Jacqueline Godwin.
And for background, it’s worth noting that Cpl. Gavin Sanchez and Lionel Sampson have some history. According to the young man’s family three years ago Sanchez came to arrest Sampson in connection to an aggravated assault case but reports are that Sampson escaped from Sanchez. Sampson was later captured and convicted. He recently finished serving a three year sentence for the aggravated assault charge. Since that incident the family claims Cpl. Sanchez has had it out for Lionel Sampson.
