By now you have seen the images captured on Friday in front of the National Assembly. They show Port Loyola area representative Anthony "Boots" Martinez scuffling with police officers one minute and the next being hit by a stick in the head.
It has sparked outrage in the community and especially from the Opposition. UDP Leader Dean Barrow today fired off separate letters to House Speaker Beth Zabaneh and Police Commissioner Jose Carmen Zetina complaining about the incident and demanding remedial action. But the man in the middle, the man who was injured and needed three stitches, is "Boots" Martinez and today he gave us a walk through of what transpired from his perspective.
Keith SwiftReporting,
Who hit 'Boots?' Today the member of the House whose blood was shed on Friday joined us to review the footage. He first drew our attention to a plain-clothes police officer, identified by the UDP as John Flores, who he says fired the first punch. Boots says he was in the crowd helping a woman who had fallen when the police officer turned his attention from the crowd to Boots.
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"If notice the crowd was bringing the lady across the line and you see the policeman moves his hand off the people who he was holding back when I reached parallel to him and then he shoved me back. You see it now. I stepped away off the side and you see, he pushed me."
Keith Swift,
So his concern was stopping you?
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"Yes."
Keith Swift,
Maybe he was trying to stop the entire crowd and because you mixed in the crowd he targeted you.
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"Well listen to me, I am not justifying or saying whether it is intentional or not. What I am telling you is that it happened to me. I am not saying that the man meant to do it because I was within a crowd."
Boots says he was later hit by that now famous flying stick but he maintains it was the punch from the plain clothes officer that caused him to bleed.
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"The stick just touched the top of my head after it knocked Mr. Barrow."
Keith Swift,
So that didn't cause you to bleed?
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"No that didn't cause me to bleed."
Keith Swift,
You're the saying the punch is what caused you to bleed?
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"Yeah the hit on my eye is what caused me to bleed. I had a big guava on my head over the weekend on where the stick knocked me."
Keith Swift,
How can you tell it was the punch that caused the injury?
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"Man that is why I was so upset. Even after I got hit with the stick, that was the first thing that caused me to get upset. I was there telling Mr. Barrow that this man knocked for me nothing. That is what I was explaining to Mr. Barrow and then the stick came and hit me after that."
But there was a third injury and an even worse transgression was committed, this one out of our camera range. Shortly after giving an interview to 7NEWS Director Jules Vasquez on the House steps, Boots headed up to the House chamber to clean up his bloody face when he claims two senior officers denied him entry.
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"They pushed me and then the senior superintendent instructed an officer to arrest me. And then the man came from behind and grabbed me and bend me and tried to arrest me and I fought with him. Then on LOVE Fm Ava Diaz and Rene Mendez were reporting the incident as it was happening. And then obviously, I don't know, it looked like it was drawn to the attention of Mr. Jeffries who ran upstairs and they them they can't do this because they are out of their jurisdiction and they can't do that to a member of the National Assembly. So it was so, the scuffled ended because in real truth I was fighting back cause I didn't want them to be knocking and bending me. I was fighting back."
Boots says he was fighting back because the two senior officers had breached the sacrosanct immunity of the House of Representatives.
Hon. Anthony 'Boots' Martinez,
"My biggest concern is the threatened democracy of the officers within the National Assembly. I know that when there is war you will have crossfire and you will have all kind of thing. But at the end of the day, threatened democracy, that is the one which I am upset about. And by seeing police officers who I stopped explain my situation to while I was bleeding and blood was running down my nose. If you notice, I got hit with the stick in my forehead and if you notice I got knocked, I was bleeding, between the eye and nose way in the corner. But I am not saying whether it was intentional or not or if the police used the opportunity in the heated moment to hit me. Even that I could understand. What I can't understand is when I'm going into my House, which I'm elected to go into, and the people there to protect and serve me, will stop me from going in. And not only stop me but assault me; obstruct me and assault me. That is the height of threatened democracy."
In his letter to House Speaker Zabaneh, UDP Leader Dean Barrow writes that the action of officers Eduardo Wade and James Magdaleno "constitute an intolerable violation of the privileges of the House, and a complete usurpation of the parliamentary jurisdiction and the Speaker's authority." Barrow ends by requesting the speaker to take immediate action. Barrow's tone is similar in his letter to COMPOL Zetina, requesting that officer John Flores be arrested for wounding and causing harm to "Boots" Martinez. Barrow accuses him of acting like, "some street thug or common criminal...(committing) battery on the representative in plain view of several witnesses."
