And turning now from that very unusual story - to the kind we report only too often, another allegation of police brutality.
This time, it is on East Canal, about a block across from our studio where residents say police stormed into a yard last night around 7:00 and wreaked havoc.
One woman - who is a traffic warden - was the first the get braced by the police. She says she was cooling off with a beer after work and they came in like storm-troopers and kicked her out of the way.
To protect her job, she asked us to mask her identity:
Voice of: Belize City resident - Claims Police Brutality
"He asked me what was going on in the yard. I told him nothing. This is the one that they called Nah. I told him nothing, but to wait so that I could open the gate. So I got up and I was going to open the gate, and by the time I pulled the chain off of the gate, he kicked me straight off my foot. He made my beer fall on the ground, break and cut me on my foot down here. I think that was pass nonsense because I am an officer just like he is, and I don't think that is right, because I am a lady. I feel disrespected because I am a woman; he knows this. He always sees me out by the commercial center working. It's not like he doesn't know that I am a traffick officer, but to me, he doesn't seem to care. He must remember that he has a woman, and he has his children. He doesn't want anyone to do his woman or his mother like this."
Jules Vasquez
"Did they arrest anyone? Did they indicate what they were looking for here?"
Voice of: Belize City resident - Claims Police Brutality
"They didn't say what they were looking for. The only thing he did was he came in, kicked open the gate, search the young men, kicked me down, and left back throught the gate. He didn't even say sorry or anything. He walked pass me like I'm a piece of paper on the ground, like he didn't even see me down there."
Jules Vasquez
"Nobody stones at empty mango trees. They must feel that somebody in this yard has done something illegal, and that's what they're looking for."
Voice of: Belize City resident - Claims Police Brutality
"I don't think anyone in this yard did anything illegal, or whatsoever he is looking for."
Jules Vasquez
"Are you afraid that there will be a repeat of this, that there could be a repeat of this?"
Voice of: Belize City resident - Claims Police Brutality
"Well if he thinks that he can come and kick me down again, I am telling him that he is sadly mistaken, because it will not end up like that again. Last night when he kicked me down, and my broken bottle was there, I was looking to pick it up to stab him with it in his throat. And I am being honest. That's how angry he got me, because I am an enforcement officer just like he is, and I think that we should respect each other."
Another young man who is in the yard, and already had a broken leg - claims the police intentionally kicked his still healing leg and damaged it more.
