The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE two officers involved in the 2013 death of 20-year-old Aaron Rolle are “still interdicted from duty”, Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said yesterday.

Commissioner Greenslade said Constables 2126 Akiel Smith and 2648 Carl Smith have not been in police uniform since Rolle’s death on February 8, 2013.

Rolle died at the Southern Police Station hours after he was taken into custody for questioning in connection with an armed robbery and escape. A pathologist report concluded that he died from haemorrhaging and a ruptured intestine, caused by blunt force trauma to the chest.

The jury in a Coroner’s Court inquest found Rolle’s death to be an “unlawful killing”.

However, since the ruling, no action had been taken by the Attorney General’s Office.

Commissioner Greenslade said while the two constables were not actively performing police duties, the matter was “out of his sphere of control” as commissioner.

He spoke to reporters at police headquarters, where he provided 2014 crime statistics and unveiled his 2015 policing plan.

“The commissioner has absolutely no control over that file over this stage,” Commissioner Greenslade said. “I can take no action. I have no involvement at this stage. Remember, the police department was being questioned over its behaviour. I can’t investigate myself. The matter went to Her Majesty’s Coroner, an investigation was done, Her Majesty’s Coroner spoke loudly to the Bahamian public and to the RBPF, and that matter was sent to the Office of the Attorney General.

“The officers concerned are not at work, certainly not wearing the uniform and performing police duties today as we speak. They’re still interdicted from duty, and the matter is a matter which is with the Office of the Attorney General.”

In June 2013, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said her office was working diligently on Rolle’s case. She told The Tribune then that her team had received the court’s recommendations and was “working as hard as we can to make sure the public feels expedition”.

At the close of the inquest into Rolle’s death, Acting Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez recommended the file be reviewed to determine whether action should be taken against the officers, and also forwarded to Commissioner Greenslade to conduct disciplinary proceedings against the men.

She also recommended that the police force implement surveillance in interrogation rooms, with the control of cameras and recordings monitored by a separate department at police headquarters or elsewhere; and for police officers to receive training in the proper restraining of suspects at least every two to three years.

Last year, more than a year since the ruling, lawyer Christina Galanos said Rolle’s family was still waiting for the outcome of the attorney general’s review before moving forward with a private prosecution.