At the end of last night's newscast, we told you about that cellphone video which the loved ones of 25-year-old Andrew McDougall say captured the confrontation he had 19 days ago with Independence Police in the village of Santa Cruz in the Stann Creek District.
As we told you, the family insists that the injuries McDougall suffered in that detention saga caused complications because he had a genetic bleeding disorder where wounds don't heal as they do in normal, healthy adults. They say he had to be hospitalized a second time due to internal bleeding, and he passed away on Tuesday at the KHMH. His family insists that the police put a major beatdown on him, and the cell phone footage certainly lends credibility to that allegation.
As we told you, it captures several officers attempting to detain a man identified as McDougall. In the video, they are trying to restrain him, and because he is not cooperating, one of the officers then picks him up and body-slams him on top of a bicycle placed in the pan of the parked police pick-up truck. Another officer is seen getting on top of the roughed-up man, using questionable force to restrain him. The video also captures angry civilian bystanders cursing out the cops in outrage due to excess.
This morning, we caught up with Police Commissioner Chester Williams and asked about the video, the incident, and the backstory not caught on camera. While he did find the use of police force questionable, he insisted that he is waiting for the results of an objective fact-finding mission that he has tasked the Professional Standard Branch to carry out. Here are those extended remarks:
