By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A POLICE corporal was awarded $21,500 after a court found he was unlawfully arrested, handcuffed in front of neighbours, detained by fellow officers and stripped of his phone for 13 days after a senior officer accused him of being corrupt.
Assistant Registrar Akeira Martin awarded damages to Corporal Pedro Heild, who claimed his constitutional right to personal liberty was breached during the March 2022 ordeal.
Mr Heild was represented by Dr K Melvin Munroe.
According to the ruling, Mr Heild attended a meeting at the Drug Enforcement Unit at 3.30pm on March 3, 2022, where he spoke with Assistant Superintendent of Police Dames.
During the meeting, ASP Dames told Mr Heild she had information that he was a “no good corrupt officer", demanded his phone and took it from him.
ASP Dames then told Mr Heild he was under arrest and ordered him to go into a room and not move. While he was there, ASP Dames and another unidentified officer spoke negatively towards him.
Mr Heild was later ordered outside and placed in the back of a police jeep, where he sat between two officers as they transported him to his home after ordering him to give them directions.
When they arrived at his residence, Inspector Cleare placed Mr Heild in handcuffs while officers searched his home with the assistance of police dogs.
Assistant Registrar Martin noted that the handcuffing took place in view of Mr Heild’s neighbours and that there was no evidence he was hostile to fellow officers.
Nothing was found during the search, and Mr Heild was not told the reason for his arrest and detention.
He was later taken to police headquarters, where the handcuffs were removed and he was seen by the Commissioner of Police.
After leaving police headquarters around 6.30pm, the police jeep stopped near the Drug Enforcement Unit, where ASP Dames told Mr Heild "get out of the vehicle" and left him in the street despite his request to be taken to his vehicle.
Mr Heild claimed the ordeal lasted five hours. He also claimed he was handcuffed in front of his mother, but the court did not accept that part of his account.
Mr Heild was never charged after his release from custody.
Assistant Registrar Martin found that his cellphone was unlawfully taken from him for 13 days.
Mr Heild claimed he was disrespected, humiliated and embarrassed by his colleagues.
He also claimed the officers’ actions were unlawful, humiliating, degrading, oppressive and arbitrary, and that the Attorney General and Commissioner of Police were vicariously liable for the actions of officers acting as servants of the Crown.
Assistant Registrar Martin found there was no sensible reason for officers to act maliciously towards Mr Heild.
Mr Heild had sought between $15,000 and $20,000 in damages, while the defendants submitted that damages should not exceed $15,000.
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