Woman says policeman knocked her out

A St Mary woman is demanding justice after she says she was assaulted by a cop on Christmas Day.

Lorraine Flemming-Rhoden, 63, said the police were called to her home in Clonmel following a dispute between her son and his girlfriend.

"The police [two men and one woman] had followed her to remove her clothes from the house. While she was packing her clothes my son was sitting inside and he and one of the police officers were hurling words at each other," she said. Flemming-Rhoden said that her son, who she believes was intoxicated, threatened the policewoman.

"I am not going to tell any lies. My son said 'If yuh come in here mi ago stab yuh up'. The policeman came in same time, took out his gun and put it on my son's belly and that's when I say 'Officer, if yuh kill him, you are going to have to kill me too because he didn't do anything to die'," she said. A gasping Flemming-Rhoden paused as she said that she was feeling extremely nervous.

"By this time, the policeman hit him with the gun in his face and start haul him all over the place. Him turn over the chair and di table and the television and have him all over the house a beat him," she continued. Flemming-Rhoden said she watched in horror as the policeman even squeezed her son's testicles.

"Mi say 'Officer, remember mi tell yuh say him drunk. Yuh can't do that' and that's when the officer turn round and give mi one tump inna mi eye and then one lick with the gun in mi forehead and it was pure blood all over," she said. "Blood was running all over and that was when the policewoman came in and tell my son she was going to arrest him. My face was bleeding." Flemming-Rhoden said she lost consciousness and was told that she was taken to the Annotto Bay Hospital by a civilian.

"I got eight stitches on my forehead and my eye is swollen and the entire area is black. I was spitting blood. I am scheduled to do a scan and other test on my eyes. I am an evangelist and if you should visit my community, everyone will tell you that I am not a troublemaker," she said.

Flemming-Rhoden said that her son also had to get medical attention and he was slapped with assault and resisting arrest charges. He is currently on bail.

Yesterday she was visited at the hospital by members of the police's Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau. Flemming-Rhoden says that she is hoping that the matter will not be swept under the carpet.

"I am very shaken up by this and I want justice to be served. I will not use this incident to judge every police because the female officer and the other male was very professional," she said. Head of the St Mary Police Division, Superintendent Bobbette Morgan, could not be reached for a comment up to press time

- S.M.L.