The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Supreme Court dismissed an unlawful arrest lawsuit Omar Archer brought against the government and ordered him to pay legal costs. 

Senior Justice Deborah Fraser rejected Mr Archer’s claim that he was unlawfully arrested, maliciously prosecuted, assaulted and falsely imprisoned by police and had his constitutional rights breached nearly six years ago.

The case stems from Mr Archer’s arrest in April 2018. He alleged that he was at an event in Smuggler’s Square when police threatened, intimidated and assaulted him.

 He said officers grabbed his jacket and repeatedly punched him about the body, causing him to suffer from a fractured fibula and tibia on his right leg.

 After the assault happened, Mr Archer said police wrongfully detained him for several hours, subjecting him to torture and degrading treatment by officers.

 He was charged days later with disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest, among other offences, but the case was eventually dismissed for want of prosecution.

 In witness statements filed with the court, a police officer denied Mr Archer’s version of events and accused him of being the aggressor in the incident.

 The police constable alleged that Mr Archer verbally attacked him when he approached him about his argument with the deejay at the event.

 The officer said he directed Mr Archer to leave, but he refused to go and later pushed him in the chest, causing him to stumble.

 The officer claimed that he and his colleague tried to detain Mr Archer and eventually arrested him.

 In her ruling, Justice Fraser said she found the officer’s evidence believable, a stark contrast to Mr Archer’s evidence, which she described as inconsistent and difficult to follow.

 “Much of Mr Archer’s testimony was bare denials of any wrongdoing during the event,” her ruling said. “He testified that he did not use abusive language, yet he contradicts himself several times during his testimony by admitting he did use abusive language. He denies pushing Corporal Barr, yet he admits that he caused Corporal Barr to fall down due to his weight and holding on to Corporal Barr’s wrist.”

 The judge said she found that Mr Archer’s actions necessitated his arrest and was satisfied that police only used necessary force to subdue and arrest him.

“It is clear that any injury inflicted on Mr Archer was a direct consequence of his own actions,” she wrote. “It was his own actions that precipitated and necessitated Corporal Barr’s and Constable Thurston’s tactics to contain the violence and maintain peace during the event. The police officers were merely defending themselves and trying to prevent any further violence that night.”

 She concluded that Mr Archer was not entitled to any award of damages and dismissed his claims entirely because he failed to prove the allegations.

 She also ordered him to pay the defendants’ cost for this action, which she said would be assessed by the court if not agreed.

 Mr Archer served as registrar for contractors under the Minnis administration despite facing several legal issues.

 In November 2022, he was sentenced to jail for three months for intentional libel. In 2015, he posted a woman’s photo on his Facebook page and falsely claimed that she had AIDS and was deliberately infecting others and that she had killed her baby and buried the child in a bucket.