The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

AFTER an off-duty officer fatally shot a man police said attacked him with a bat, Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle insisted that the matter will be investigated like any other incident.

Loved ones of the deceased have questioned the police’s version of the events. Yesterday Commissioner Rolle said while he did not want to delve into the specifics of the case, he will make a determination based on the facts once he has received the full details.

He said the matter will then move on to the Coroner’s Court for a hearing where evidence will be heard.

Commissioner Rolle said he spoke with the officer in question and planned to visit him yesterday.

“I’ve spoken to him and I’m going to visit him this afternoon. He suffered a fractured left jaw and…cut to his ears and a fractured hand,” he said.

He added: “We want to give respect to him as we do this investigation. That will follow the same procedure as we do with any and all of our investigations. So, no different.”

When asked about the concerns from the deceased’s loved ones, Commissioner Rolle said: “Those matters are being investigated.”

He added: “I’ve said a million times whenever these matters happen, they’re gonna be investigated. The evidence will be tendered in court, so persons who have interest will be able to go to court and give their evidence.

“I’m not going to get into the details of all of that. ACP Cash I believe spoke to the media. We gave you the facts.”

He also said: “The file, when I receive it, I review the file and make a determination and the file will move on to Her Majesty’s Coroner. We are essentially assisting the coroner ….All of those questions that you have and things coming up in social media - as much as I can ask persons as to have respect for the process, even in law enforcement we have to follow the process of the law. It is not about opinion, it’s about the law.”

The incident took place after 10pm on Friday at a plaza on East Street South opposite Cox Way.

Initial reports from police said the off-duty officer was patronising an establishment in the plaza when he became an eyewitness to an ongoing altercation in the parking lot.

The officer made an attempt to speak to the individual who was involved, police said, but the man then left and later returned with a baseball bat and struck the officer on his head and face several times.

The officer, who was armed with his service pistol, fired several shots at his assailant, fatally wounding him. Emergency Medical Services were called in and they pronounced the man dead.

The officer was transported to the hospital where he is in stable condition. The coroner visited the scene and was appraised of the initial facts, police said.

The deceased is 28-year-old Nawal Mackey Sr.

Asked why the officer had his weapon while off-duty, the police chief noted: “He’s a police officer and I made the decision to issue him with a weapon as we have many other officers, depending on their duties that they are assigned, they are allowed to… they’re issued with a personal weapon.”

The victim’s girlfriend previously told The Tribune that someone who was at the scene gave a different account than police.

“Someone who was there said this happened in the place where they were playing pool, not in the parking lot,” she alleged.

“He was not arguing with anyone else. He was arguing with the officer that shot him. I was told things got heated and the officer ran outside with his girl and people went outside behind them. Seems like some kind of fighting went on out there and another officer who was there fired a warning shot so they could stop.”

She claimed she was told while her boyfriend did have a bat, he “started to run away from them” when he “saw the gun”.

“He was then shot by the officer. He fell to the ground and then he was shot again. That is what was told to us by someone who was there,” she alleged.

Yesterday, the commissioner also reflected on the difficult year the police force has endured during the pandemic.

“We have taken a lot of undue abuse from members of the public, but I have to steer the course because you know we are the lead agency in law enforcement and we have to enforce these laws,” he told reporters. “So we know that people are getting a little antsy.

“My biggest task was to keep the officers focused and I believe we’ve done a very good job with that despite the difficulties that we face during those lockdown periods.”