And yesterday you saw the spontaneous protest in front of the prime minister's house in Orange Walk after the comments he made on a morning show about the incident.
While he didn't justify what the cops did, he did make the point that civilians should respect a police officer's authority. Though his words rubbed some residents the wrong way, today he explained that his comments were being misconstrued, and clarified that the death hit him close to home.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Basically what I said is that if the police tells you to stop, you should stop, I said but it makes two points, one is that either our citizens are afraid of the police, A, or B, they don't respect the police, that was the point that I was making, I was in no way trying to say that what happened to the teenager was deserving, of course it wasn't, if you were to have listened to everything I said, the first thing I said is that my heart goes out to the family and my sympathies goes out to the family for the lost of a loved one, that's what I started with. I also made the point that I do not know enough to comment on the incident and it was going to end up in court so I just spoke just broadly about what is going on, not necessarily about that incident. Now that the police have been charged because of the investigation, it shows that as a government, we are not prepared to accept any kind of police brutality. I spoke with Minister Musa yesterday in Cabinet, I said what's going on, he said, prime minister, we have been giving lessons and coaching our police over and over and over and it just so happens that sometimes some of our police are trigger happy and secondly, I don't think they should belong in our town, in our municipalities, with these big guns and this is what happens so I don't rejoice that they are charging these officers for murder, but what is important to point out to make the point that as a government we are not going to tolerate it and if you are found guilty, then you have to face the consequences but again, my heart goes out to the family. The young kid's mother is a second cousin of mine, I know the family so how could I just be callous as if I don't care? so it's important if you would make that distinction."
Courtney Menzies:
"But what do you think about the protest, because what you said did upset some of the residents, and they went to protest in front of your house."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Did you see the protest? I just saw the video, I mean, it's a few people that stopped by and protested but that's their right if they want to protest, I don't take it personal, in a time when people are angry or they're emotional, they don't think things through. i am sure that they know me better, they know I would never tolerate any kind of police brutality or anything against any citizen in Orange Walk Town and in the entire country so if they wanted to do a small, very very small, group, but again, it is their right if they want to protest, anywhere in the country."
While police typically release the pictures of persons who are charged for crimes, in this case - as in all cases involving police officers - they have not.
