An ex-cop with more than three decades of service is today bemoaning the fact that he was forced to retire early from the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) after he lost the use of a finger and had a bullet lodged in his foot during an attack by a machete-wielding man in Yallahs, St Thomas 12 years ago.

Linford Brown, a resident of Mount Sinai in St Thomas, said his now disabled hand made it difficult for him to effect an arrest.

“If me was to go out and arrest someone it would be hard for me to hold on to them because me finger cannot bend none at all,” Brown said as he showed the injury to his hand, which almost severed his finger.

Recounting the incident, Brown said on that day he and a colleague had gone to arrest the son of a mentally ill man in Knightsville, a short distance from the Yallahs Police Station, where he was posted at the time.

“As we go to arrest the son him shout out to him father fi come chop we up, and before me know it, the man chop me colleague,” Brown recalled.

He said with his colleague incapacitated he was left to fend off both the fury of the son and his father. According to Brown, he fought valiantly to maintain his hold on to his service firearm, which was still in its holster, as the son tried to disarm him.

“So me ah hold on to me waist with one hand fi prevent the son from disarming me while me hold up me other hand to shield the blow from the machete and that is how me get chop on me finger,” he said, adding that by this time his finger was barely attached to his hand.

The 59-year-old Brown said he only escaped with his life after he was able to shoot the machete-wielding man. However, as he and the son wrestled with each other, Brown said his gun went off shooting him (Brown) in his foot.

Brown, whose story was corroborated by some residents in his Mount Sinai community, said an angry mob began advancing on him and his colleague, and it was only an empty threat which saved the policemen’s lives.

“Is the empty gun me had to use to keep them off until news reach the Yallahs station and they came for us,” he said.

Brown said he was rushed to the Princess Margaret Hospital and later transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was admitted for sometime.

But during the four months he spent at home recuperating, Brown said he got no support from the ISCF association.

“Me carry all me doctor bill to the association and them no help me with a thing,” he said, adding that they would not even assist him with transportation to get to his physiotherapy session at KPH.

The Jamaica Observer North East was unable to get a response from the ISCF.

Brown said he later returned to work, first at the Morant Bay Police Station, before returning to Yallahs Police Station where he stayed until he retired in 2011.

Now a farmer, Brown said his injuries still make life difficult for him as he is constantly in pain.

“The shot still in me foot where it lodge because the doctor say it is on a nerve, and if it come out I might not be able to walk again,” he said, adding that “me foot still causing me some problems because it cramp up on me when me go in the air-condition.”

The ex-cop said he believes the incident caused him not to be further promoted in the job, despite his years of service and hard work, and forced him to leave before completing 33 years of service.

Brown, who retired as sergeant, said he felt slighted as he knew the work more than even some of his superiors and was convinced that the reason for him not moving further up the ranks had to do with his injuries.

“Me just say God ah carry me through and so me nah bother meck everything bother me no more,” he said.

Today, Brown said he has returned to his first love — farming — and spends his days tending to his numerous crops.

“Me plant so much things me can’t begin fi tell you,” he said with a smile.

Brown, who grew up in this St Thomas community, said he has not allowed the incident to cause him not to live life to its fullest.

He said he remains very active in his community and this is evident by the fact the he will be sworn in as a justice of the peace next month.