Were two young men on a motorcycle in Orange Walk deliberately run over by police on Monday night?
It left a 20 year old dead, and tonight, a large cross section of that northern town suspects that it was no accident - evoking shades of what happened with 19 year Dyandre Chi in March; he was shot and killed by police after he was forced off his motorcycle.
Now, the Commissioner says both cases are different - but still he is taking a cautious wait and see approach.
And that's because there are red flags surrounding this fatal accident - and the biggest one is that police seem to be trying to introduce what looks to be a red herring: a firearm that the passenger on the motorbike was allegedly carrying.
Jules Vasquez has been investigating and he found that what the cops claim to have found may not even meet the standard of a red herring:
Reporter:
"Was any firearm recovered?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"The police did recover a firearm on the scene. They had said that prior to the accident, the pillion rider threw an object away and when they went and checked they found a firearm which is a, it looks like 9mm pistol according to them but it turned out to be a pellet gun."
This is the gun police claim to have found buried at the scene of the accident - and as you can see, it's not much of anything - it's certainly no kind of weapon. Really, it's the remnants a recreational sports air pistol - the kind anybody can buy over the counter at a hardware store - no license required.
It's certainly not illegal and would not even need to be concealed - it's just t a plastic scrap, really.
This questionable discovery is among multiple inconsistencies in the police account of the accident that led to the death of 20 year old Jesus Sacul.
It begins with the pursuit - which - from the Commissioner's words - brought the pickup alongside the motorcycle:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"The motorcycle rider lost control of the motorcycle and collided into the fender of the police vehicle, falling to the ground."
To collide into the fender - they would have had to have been alongside each other - which - according to the police policies and procedures manual is strictly prohibited.
Here it says, "at no time should the officer pull alongside the other vehicle momentarily to signal the driver to pullover."
But the commissioner had no adverse comment on the pursuit yesterday - in fact he seemed to avoid the inevitable conclusion that the pursuit broke the rules.
Courtney Menzies:
"I guess the question is if the officers explained how the motorcycle was able to crash into the front of the vehicle if they were speeding away?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I still want to find that out likewise myself. So I've asked the investigators to see if there's any surveillance cameras in the area or witnesses in the area who would be able to shed more light on what really transpired."
What really transpired - will we ever know? At the scene, we saw police officers retrieving the motorcycle - we hope this is after the Scenes of Crime team was finished on the scene - but the footage at the scene does not show a scenes of crime van.
The family has also complained that it is a civilian vehicle, not police who took the victims to the hospital.
The community is on high alert because they feel that once again the police department acted with deliberate malice against a pair of young men on motorcycle - and the commissioner wouldn't say otherwise, yet:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"If the police are wrong, I cannot say if they are wrong or right. I'd rather wait until the investigation is over."
We'll keep following this story as the investigation continues.
