Manchester taximen withdraw service after confrontation with police
MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Taxi operators plying the Knockpatrick, Hillside, Newport and George’s Valley routes in Manchester have withdrawn their service, protesting the alleged beating of a taxi operator by a policeman this morning.
The operators say that their colleague and the policeman had a verbal confrontation which escalated into a fight in the Mandeville town centre. They were parted by bystanders and two other policemen came to the assistance of the taximan. They then reportedly walked with the policeman as he took the taxi operator to the police station.
Taxi operators claim that about 100 metres from where the initial confrontation took place the taxi operator was hit on the head with a baton by one of the cops as they headed to the station.
The taxi operator has been hospitalized in an unconscious state.
Glendon Baker
