Young dad becomes a victim of alleged police brutality
Man forced to his knees despite medical condition.
A 24-year-old father from Florida is highly upset after he allegedly became a victim of police brutality on 10 May.
He was walking from Madeleine Street to Goldman Street with his three-year-old daughter to go shopping when the incident took place. At about 2pm, two police members stopped them and insisted on searching him. One of them told him to get on his knees and put his hands on his head. He protested, saying he suffers from arthritis and can’t kneel. One of the policemen then allegedly forced him to the ground and kept his head down with his boot.
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The man then saw that his daughter was traumatised by the whole ordeal and told her to come and stand by him, but one of the officers told him “to shut up”. “I asked why it was necessary for them to search me and what I had done, but he said I must shut up. I told him that I am not a thief, druggie or a suspect in any crime so what’s his problem, to which he responded that ‘he is the law’. I have never been caught with any narcotics or any illegal items,” said the victim.
The young man and his father have laid a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and will meet with the Florida Police station commander tomorrow, 16 May, although it is uncertain whether the officers were in fact from the Florida Police Station.
The Record is in the process of obtaining comment from Florida Police Station.
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