The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE sister of a man who died under a hail of bullets from police at the Bahamas Hot Rod Association track on Sunday night believes officers had no reason to shoot him.

Anthonique Mackey, 30, said her brother Rico Mackey was just one of many trying to avoid being detained by officers and sped for the exit when police arrived at the track, but was tragically the only person killed.

“We were at the tracks,” said Anthonique. “Police came and blocked the entrance. They didn’t want anyone getting out so everyone was driving around the barricade they set up. Hundreds of people were out there and there was no reason to shoot his car. He tried to get out like everyone else did. A lot of people were trying to get out, a lot of them were moving quickly.”

Police said they saw a large crowd when they arrived at the tracks, having received a call about a disturbance.

“The officers then made a check of the vehicles and patrons as they exited,” police said in a statement. “The occupant of a small black vehicle, in an attempt to evade the officers at the checkpoint, accelerated in the direction of the officers and refused to stop when beckoned to do so.

“As the driver continued acceleration, the officers being in fear of their lives drew their service weapons and engaged the occupant of the vehicle. The driver continued west along Corridor Seven and later crashed into a northern wall.”

Ms Mackey said her 27-year-old brother, who was driving a Toyota iQ, would never drive into police officers nor harm them.

“Rico was just a happy person, he wouldn’t try to knock them down just to get away, it wouldn’t make sense,” she said.

“But they shot so many times. I lost count of how many times they shot at him.”

Ms Mackey said she and her brother were close. The two were conversing when police showed up Sunday night. His last words to her, she said, were “I’m heading out.”

An electrician by profession, Mackey lived with his 78-year-old grandmother. He helped her financially and assisted with house chores, his sister said.

She said her brother had no criminal conviction and was arrested just once in connection with a domestic dispute.

Police, nonetheless, said they recovered a weapon from Mackey’s car, something Ms Mackey finds difficult to believe.

“One of his friends was out there,” she said. “I asked him if my brother had a gun, he said my brother didn’t own a gun. . .It was a bunch of them (police) surrounding the car, like ten of them. They wouldn’t let us get near the car.”

Ms Mackey, who was inconsolable during yesterday’s interview, said her family is scrambling to find a lawyer to help them with her brother’s case before the Coroner’s Court hears the matter.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Audley Peters confirmed that officers at the scene wore body cameras, adding that the Coroner’s Court will control access to recordings.

“I want to see the video, I want to know what happened,” Ms Mackey said. “I don’t feel they had a reason to open fire.”

Mackey’s death is the first police-involved killing of the year so far.

The Bahamas has had a higher rate of police involved killings than the United States in recent years. There were 11 killings last year––a rate of 2.9 per 100,000 people. According to the Washington Post, there were 992 police-involved killings in the US in 2018, a rate of 0.3 per 100,000 people.

Meanwhile, activity at the Coroner’s Court has stalled since the start of the pandemic, with one lawyer saying yesterday that the court is at a “complete standstill.”