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Police probing claim politician interfered with crime scene
BY H G HELPS, Editor-at-Large helpsh@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, July 10, 2009
The police are investigating an incident involving an active Jamaica Labour Party politician who they claimed interfered with a crime scene in
the South East St Andrew area on Wednesday.
The politician, who frequents the Jacques Road area of the constituency, was said to have picked up the body of a man slain by gunmen and placed it in his vehicle, after the incident between rival gangs that also left three women injured, police personnel on the scene told the Observer.
But the police high command has not confirmed the information and other sources have denied the action.
"Who is driving that vehicle? Block that Prado," shouted a voice over the police radio at the time of the incident.
The body remained on the sidewalk for hours while officials from the Major Investigation Taskforce processed the scene.
"That's misinformation," the politician said when contacted by the Observer yesterday. "That matter was cleared up from yesterday," he said without elaborating.
Senior police officials declined to speak on the record about the incident, which one described as a "very delicate matter".
However, Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of crime Owen Ellington told the Observer that investigations were continuing.
"I have been doing some checks on the allegations, but I cannot confirm anything yet," Ellington said.
"I can confirm that he (the politician) did take somebody to the Stadium Police Station, but the person that he took was not a gunman or the man who was killed. My people are probing the matter now," said Ellington, who spoke to the paper from Jacques Road late yesterday.
The police had not released the identity of the dead man, but maintained that the man was shot by members of a rival gang who have been at each other's throats in the struggle for control of turf, drugs and guns, a fight that has escalated over several months.
Citizens of the area have blamed the joint police and military team for injuring the women.
The incident forced motorists travelling in the Mountain View Avenue area to find alternative routes, as police blocked a section of the road.
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