Twenty one year old Kareem Grant, one of three persons who the police believe was involved in a robbery and shooting at Olympic Restaurant last Thursday night, was charged with five offences in court today.
He was charged with attempted murder, dangerous harm, use of deadly means of harm, robbery, and escape from lawful custody. Grant pleaded not guilty to robbery and escape, and no plea was taken for the other offences.
The other side of the story is that he was beaten up, his mother says he is a victim of yet another case of police brutality.
She came to our studios today to tell us how viciously her son was mistreated when police caught him.
Voice of Mother - Kareem Grant
"When I saw my son his eyes were swollen, his face had two different colors. He has a dislocated shoulder and knee. When I ask him what happen he said that the police beat him and they stomp him in his face that's the reason why he has the scar over his face. He has bloodspots in his eyes. My thing is even if he is wrong they don't have the right to beat him. If somebody is wrong and you have already arrest them what give you the right to beat them. I think you go to court and proven if guilty or if you are not. He is not the first person that they have done that to. One of the things that really bother me the most was because we couldn't see him because he was charge for attempted murder. This morning he went to court. When he went to court he had two charges first which was robbery and escape. After he was arraigned in court after that then they came back and give him the charges of attempted murder, which mean that they lied, and if he had the charges we could have seen him. I think the only reason that they didn't allow anybody to see him was because they know how badly he was beaten. This is not right, when does this stop."
In court today when Grant said that the police had beaten him and dislocated his shoulder, the police officers said that he dislocated his arm when he jumped out of the police vehicle wearing handcuffs.
Grant was remanded until October 6th.
The incident he is allegedly a part of happened last week Thursday, when 43 year old business man Chong Wu Tan, owner of Olympic restaurant, reported to police that he was in the restaurant behind the counter when three men entered wearing handkerchiefs over their face. Tan said he was held at gunpoint by two of the masked men, while the third, who was unarmed jumped behind the counter and stole phone cards.
Tan said that a struggle then ensued between one of the robbers and 42 year old Efrain Guzman, a security guard who was a customer. During the struggle, Guzman was shot 4 times and the robbers dashed off.
