Handcart man gets wicked beating - Municipal cop accused of breaking fingers

March 05, 2020
Williams shows his two broken fingers.
Williams shows his two broken fingers.

A handcart operator was beaten in Falmouth, Trelawny, by a member of the municipal police, leaving him with two broken fingers.

Charles Williams, who goes by the name 'Mankind', described the ordeal, which took place last Tuesday, as a wicked act.

He said that the municipal policeman had beaten up another handcart man the previous day.

Williams said that the official was in the process of taking his cart away, so he held on to the cart.

"Me a reverse the cart and a say just cool man, and him just turn round a tek him baton and bruck me finger," Williams said.

Williams said the officer told him "don't touch it! If yuh touch it a box yuh down", because he had his handcart in the pedestrianised area of the resort town.

The municipal corporation has posted notices in the town stating that no handcart is allowed to park on certain streets. It warned that "if seen they will be removed".

Begged him

Reduced to tears yesterday as he spoke with THE STAR, Williams said the municipal policeman was most daring when he begged him not to seize his cart.

"'Yuh waah pon social media to?, " Williams said the municipal policeman asked him, believed to be a reference to the previous incident in which another handcart operator was beaten, allegedly by the same municipal policeman. That incident went viral on social media.

Williams, 46, whose handcart has since been dismantled and dumped at the offices of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, said he attempted to report the matter to the Falmouth Police Station and was turned away.

"When I went to the police they told me that they can't help me, I must go to INDECOM (Independent Commission of Investigations)," he said.

Williams said that doctors told him that his fingers will take at least six weeks to heal. He said that while he is in physical pain, that pales in comparison to the feeling of helplessness that has engulfed him.

"Me mother a 90 and a me take care a har. Right now a beg me a beg people who know me to help me out," he said.

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