Cops in dock

| 01/09/2009

(CNS): Police say that two serving police officers, Rabe Welcome and Adrian Clarke, are due to appear before the court today (1 September), having been charged with wounding following an incident that occurred at a George Town gas station on 17 June in which a man armed with a machete was placed under arrest by an off-duty officer. Welcome also faces an additional charge of common assault. Both are currently on suspension.

An investigation led by Inspector Charles Best commenced following the incident which saw one man arrested in the early hours on suspicion of threatening violence and possession of an offensive weapon, the RCIPS said in a release. The man, who had reportedly been armed with the machete, sustained a number of injuries during the incident, including a laceration to his face and a broken arm, for which he received medical treatment. The man has been released without charge. A third off-duty officer who was involved in the incident has been eliminated from the enquiry and has returned to work.

The 911 Emergency Communications Centre received a call at approximately 1:00am from a member of the public reporting that an altercation was taking place at the Red Bay Esso on Shamrock Road and that one man was armed with a machete. Uniformed officers from George Town responded to the location and found that the man had been placed under arrest by an off-duty officer.

The RCIPS takes incidents of this nature extremely seriously and although police officers do find themselves in situations where the use of force is necessary they are required to justify that use of force, showing that it was proportionate and legal, and that there was, at the time, an absolute necessity.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Category: Headline News

About the Author ()

Comments (13)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Mike Hennessy says:

      I wonder if it’s possible that some sort of hard evidence turned up that made this some thing other than an accused criminal’s word against that of two police officers.  I seem to remember CCTV cameras at that particular store…

  2. Richard Wadd says:

     I notice that my ‘comment’ on this story has been removed? Might I ask why?

    Nicky: I’ve explained in my comment immediately belowthis. Also read the comment policy

    • Richard Wadd says:

       While I ‘yeild’ to the fact that this medium is under your control and discression (given your Policy Guidelines), I am begining to question whether or not your Service /  Website has now also fallen Victim to Government Censure.

      It would be a shame if the one credible source of News and Info in these islands has indeed succumed to Government Pressure.

      So much for Freedom of the Press ….. R.I.P. 

      CNS: You’re very quick to assume, Dick. No, we have not fallen under government censure. Comments about court procedings could be contempt of court. You may make your comments when the court case is over. Thanks for "yeilding".

      • whodatis says:

        LMAO!!

        Get him Nicky!!

        Also, you should have confirmed to "Dick" (classic!!) – that yes, this website is in fact under your "discression"!

        Lol!

        (Just kicking you when you’re down Mr. Wadd! Its all good…I needed this bit of humor / humour (gotta stay on my toes now huh?) this morning.)

        Everyone be good.

        • Richard "Head" Cheese says:

          Richard:

          I paid Nicky to delete your comment, since it was inconsistent with our desire to take over the Cayman Islands through media manipulation and mind control.

          • now look deep into your monitor…
          • you are getting sleepy…
          • you will vote in the next election for Nicky Watson for Supreme Leader of the Cayman Islands
          • you will change you will change your middle name to "Less"…
          • whodatis says:

            lmao!!

            Okay…okay..that’s enough!

            Everyone back off "Dickie"…we’re not being very nice!

            :o)

  3. Nicky Watson says:

    I won’t be publishing any comments about the accused or the witnesses or the court proceedings at this point. Wait until the court case is over – you can let rip then.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Ok without railing on these cops too much before it is clear what happened, I want to say, why the hell are we finding out about such things over six weeks after the incident occured? Another example of the RCIPS sweeping its dirty news under the rug for as long as possible. The RCIPS should definitly be ashamed of their public relations directives that protect police, not the public. I understand officers have a "damned if we do, damned if we don’t" attitude but that’s part of being a cop. The RCIPS is wack and make the Keystone Cops look like NYPD Blue. Trust comes with taking responsiblity and when trust breaks down, you start at the bottom and try to build it back up. The RCIPS is always breaking the trust of the people but never takes responsibitly properly. So go on RCIPS, send us all your crappy slanted one-way press releases telling us how well you can burn ganja, track down three stolen jet skis and only solve half of the murders on an  75 square mile island with only a few major roads.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Alright all you posters who say that the Police should be taking criminals out behind the police station and beating them to within inches of their lives and knocking all their teeth out, etc, etc,…now is the time to put your money where your mouth is….How many of you are going to go to the Courts officed and protest this and show your support for your Police officers doing their jobs???   C’mon….when this happened there were dozens of comments saying how these guys should have killed this person, not just broke his arm during the arrest….Well….you called for it…Now stand up and show you meant it!!! 

    Furthur you all should be asking the most important question….why was someone who was armed with a machete in a public place at 1am in the morning released WITHOUT charge???

    XXXXX

    Come on RCIP….WE WANT ANSWERS!!!  

    • Anonymous says:

      answers are the one thing you will not get.  sorry to disappoint.  common sense is far too uncommon; the order of the day…