Before March 2026, an attorney who practices at the parish court, Supreme Court and Appeal Court levels was leery of stories about misconduct by members of the security forces. But she says all that has changed since an encounter with a cop, whose advances she rejected, saw her beaten and tossed outside a government office.

“I used to be sceptical when clients shared these stories but…I’ve experienced it for myself,” the lawyer, who asked not to be identified by name, told the
Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

She said she was at the Police Records Office in May Pen, Clarendon, on March 12 this year to conduct business when the unexpected occurred.

She said that, in the course of finalising the documentation needed for processing, she met a man who asked for her number, saying he wanted to get to know her. She said she respectfully declined. She said she next saw him at the door of the area in which she was waiting to hand in her documents.

“He called me. I told him that I was there to do a police record. He didn’t introduce himself… I didn’t know his name,” the lawyer recounted.

She said the man then began to find fault with her application — saying the photo was incorrect, then saying she did not have the correct receipt – and insisted that if the change was not made her application would not be processed that day.

“He was not in any uniform. He was in plain clothes, he didn’t even have on a badge. I just treated him as…I would treat anyone, because I thought more or less that he worked there… I showed him the receipt; and I even showed him the one on my phone that was generated after I did the application,” she recalled.

She said things escalated when she again insisted that she had the correct receipt and had done everything she was told to do, therefore her application would be processed that day.

“He pushed me in the wall and hit my head. He placed my hands behind my back in the arresting position and said that he’s going to arrest me for disobeying a police officer’s command,” the attorney told the
Observer.

She said when the cop released her to, it appears, fetch his handcuffs, in an effort to maintain peace, she went to a nearby Internet café, printed another copy of the same document, and returned with it.

“He was already back at the door. He said, ‘Let me see the receipt.’ I showed him the receipt, and he said, ‘You have to come back another day,’” she told the Observer.

“I asked him who is in charge and he said he is the one who ‘run tings’. So I am assuming he is the supervisor or the head person. So I gave him the receipt again, he crushed the receipt and threw it at my feet and said I have to come back another day. He opened the door and was taking up my bag to throw outside,” she said.

“I forced myself in through the space that was left, went in, and I sat down, and I held on to my bag, because he was going to throw my bag outside. He pulled me to my feet, forced my phone from my hands and he literally threw me outside, and then he started to beat me,” she said.

The lawyer said she is awaiting the results of a probe into the incident that was carried out by the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau (IPROB) — the internal watchdog and anti-corruption branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force..

According to the lawyer, her glued-down lace front wig was “torn off” her head, and less than three of her 10 press-on nails remained on her fingers after the scuffle.

“I went back inside to take up my bag, because this time I was going to head home and call it a day. He said, ‘B**ch you are not going anywhere, you are under arrest!’ He basically forced me, again, into the arresting position, saying that he’s going to charge me for assaulting a police officer, disobeying a police officer’s command and public mischief,” the attorney recalled.

She said all this unfolded in the presence of other individuals using the service, her client who had accompanied her to the records office, and was also recorded on the premises’ closed-circuit television system.

The woman, who said she was too shocked to defend herself, said others came to her rescue.

“My client was pulling him off me and saying, ‘Just let her go, let her go!’ And then two persons from inside the Police Records Office came and held on to him. While they were holding on to him, he was saying, ‘Arrest her, arrest di gal!’ and they held on to him and pulled him inside,” she stated.

“He was being disrespectful. He abused me — not just physically, but verbally — and at no point I responded in kind… I was so taken aback, I couldn’t believe that this was really happening. This was such a traumatic experience. I was unable to go to work for two days; even now I have to be going to the doctor,” said the lawyer who added that she now wears a brace because of pain in her lower back.

The diminutive woman told the
Observer that the cop, after learning that she was an attorney, reported her to the General Legal Council the following day, alleging that she attacked him first.

“I can’t even join the police force based on my weight and my height. I would have to write to the police commissioner to get a waiver. He beat me up, and then he went there and said I pushed him in the door and hit his back and damaged his spinal area. This man is medium built; even if I push him he would not move. He is plump, and I am being kind in saying that. I weigh 125 pounds, I am shorter than him,” she argued.

She said she has chosen to share her story as a way to give a voice to other individuals who have suffered in similar ways. She believes the only reason she was not jailed that day is because she is a lawyer.

She said she is awaiting the results of a probe into the incident that was carried out by the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau (IPROB) — the internal watchdog and anti-corruption branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. She provided documentation to verify that she has filed a report with IPROB.

“I do have plans to take the matter to court. I was waiting to see where IPROB would go from there, but my lawyer is just waiting to see if they will make a decision soon, or if we need to proceed without them making a decision. I want to be as reasonable as possible, so I’m giving them the chance to decide,” she said.

For her, the experience is one she can never forget.

“I did not touch that officer, I didn’t even get the opportunity. It was not even a fight, it was a beat up. I did not hit him once and he must be adding insult to injury because he said I pushed him and damaged his spine. He beat me so badly I was in disbelief. They have to do better. They really have to do better because you cannot use your power and do these things to people,” she argued.