The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle yesterday said the Royal Bahamas Police Force is investigating the actions of two police officers who fired a dozen “warning shots” in the air to quell a public disturbance that was captured on video.

Deputy Commissioner Rolle told The Tribune that the video in question has been brought to his attention, and that while he cannot say for certain what was taking place in the footage, the RBPF has launched an investigation into the incident.

The video in question captured a raucous public disturbance at an unknown location that two men, believed to be police officers, were trying to quell. A police car could be seen parked directly in front of the commotion, that involved at least a dozen people.

About three to four seconds in, one of the officers, wearing a dark-coloured shirt, holds up a firearm and fires three shots in rapid succession. Some, especially women, in the crowd immediately react to the shots, although the mayhem continues.

That first officer could be seen walking behind another car and speaking to an individual, before slapping him in the head with his left hand and motioning for him to leave the area.

While that was happening, another group of persons could be seen interlocked in a struggle, with one man throwing a punch at someone else.

Seconds later, another suspected officer wearing a white shirt then holds up his firearm and fires eight shots into the air in rapid succession. After that, a woman could be heard saying: “They warning shots!”

Despite the second round of gunshots, however, the man in the white shirt could be seen throwing someone to the ground, before getting lost from the camera’s view due to all of the commotion.

When questioned on the video yesterday, the deputy commissioner said: “It was brought to my attention. Not sure what was going on, but we will investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.”

The video was posted to a Facebook group and later shared widely.

There were mixed reactions to the officers’ actions in the video, ranging from some questioning the rationale behind firing shots in the air — as they could have injured someone — to the fact that none of those engaged in the melee seemed unfazed by the shots.

“So where those bullets landing? They forget that got to come back down aye? I guess they don’t care if each of those shots killed 10 to 12 innocent people when they came back down (sic),” one person said.

Another Facebook user was more brutal in his criticism of the officers, saying: “These dumb (expletive) police, do they know bullets come back down and can kill someone?”

However some people came to the defence of the officers.

One user wrote: “The police are always wrong until something happens and they need to call the police. Stop condoning dumb (expletive) and teach your children to act like people in public and not animals.”