Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force are being accused of using excessive force on a man believed to be a bus driver, after a video of his arrest surfaced online. While the footage shows him refusing to comply, allegations have since emerged that he began resisting only after being hauled off a bus and struck with a gun.
These claims were made by a woman said to be close to the situation, who attempted to clarify what happened after the video began attracting widespread criticism on Monday.
The recording, filmed by the man’s screaming daughter, begins with the father appearing to charge toward the police. In response, officers kick him to the ground and hit him, prompting more frantic shouts from his daughter. During the chaos, the daughter hurled expletives at the officers, and one policeman raised his gun toward her and the other bystanders, ordering them to move back.
As the confrontation continued, an officer insisted that the driver, now back on his feet, was “fighting off the police”. The daughter, however, argued through expletives that her father had done nothing to deserve such treatment. She continued to challenge an officer who paced back and forth in front of the camera.
The father’s actions drew mixed reactions online, with some blaming him for resisting arrest and criticising the daughter for her emotional outburst. But a social media user offered a different version of events, claiming the man had been driving a bus when he was pulled over.
Instagram user Nash, in a series of comments, alleged that the driver handed over his licence and told the police he was going to pull over along the side of the road. According to her, the officers then dragged him from the bus, struck him with a gun, and kicked him.
She claimed that it was only after being hit with the gun that the man charged at the officers, trying to retaliate. “A dem drag di man out a di bus n lick him wid gun. Him nuh miss try kick him back… They started it!!!” she wrote.
Nash continued to defend both the driver and his daughter, insisting they are not troublesome people. She added that police used pepper spray on the driver’s daughter during the ordeal, which contributed to her furious reaction.
