Over the past week, we've been reporting about that horrific night at the San Ignacio Community Hospital. The incident occurred on June 1st, but the police didn't find out about it until June 10th, when we broke the story on Sunup on 7. We've discussed the timeline of events that happened in between and why it took the police so long to act. As one doctor said, the cops dropped off David Galindo and then sped off.
According to the minister, the only report they received was about the broken door, which they acted on. But how did the police miss the other details when investigating that damaged door - the biggest being how and why it happened.
But rather than question the officer, Musa has now thrown the blame on Channel 7, stating that our newsroom should have contacted the cops the moment we got the report - which, we should clarify, was Sunday June 8th, less than 12 hours before we aired it on "The Monday Morning Beef."
That means an entire week lapsed before we were informed, during which time the Ministry of Health knew of the incident - but did not activate the Police. We challenged the Minister on this.
Reporter:
"Do you admit there was a breakdown?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"No absolutely not. Like I mentioned previously, I believe I met with the media on Thursday or Friday, the only report that came to police was the damage to property so that matter was dealt with, the individual was charged the following day so I believe he pled guilty, the individual that damaged the glass and he was fined $1,500 and so that was the only report that came to the police department. And so I know that there's a lot of examination going on in terms of the timeline in which this information was provided but let me say that it was not provided to the police it was provided to a media outlet and one would expect moving forward, responsible media outlets would contact the police before trying to claim credit, to say we were first. This is not a competition, the police is not competing with any of the media stations and it is hoped that we are all in this fight against crime, that you would do the responsible thing, ask the police for their side of the story. Did a report like this come to you? That was never done, instead it was shared on a morning show I believe, that's not the way we are supposed to be working together, so I would like to ask the cooperation of media houses, we are not trying to compete for any sort of glory, this is not about chest beat or ago building, and so my suggestion moving forward is that had the doctors gone to the police first, then an investigation could have taken place. The only thing that came to the police was a damage to property case."
Courtney Menzies:
"But they had a meeting with the Ministry of Health."
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Afterwards, yes."
Courtney Menzies:
"Like two days after the incident."
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"You're inserting a new timeline, something that did not come to police, so we can only activate and we did so very swiftly, the moment it came to the police."
Courtney Menzies:
"But he's the deputy director of hospital services, they had a meeting with him, why didn't he relay the information to the police?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"You'd have to ask him."
Courtney Menzies:
"But why is Channel 7 being held to a higher responsibility than Dr Polanco?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"They're not."
Courtney Menzies:
"Why didn't Dr Polanco go to the police in the same way?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"But you're inserting new to the equation that I'm not knowledge of so you have to ask Dr Polanco that, that's not from the Ministry of Home Affairs."
Reporter:
"But can you definitively say that in their report there was not details of everything else happening that the police should have picked up on?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I will check on that to see, I will follow up on that and by tomorrow I'll have a response for you but like I said, what has been presented to the police was a damage to property case, I can see what other information was provided at that time."
