A teenage girl and her mother were allegedly assaulted by police officers during a Jamaica Public Service (JPS) illegal light wire removal operation in Kitson Town, St. Catherine, on Tuesday.
According to reports, the officers, who were wearing plain clothes, were accompanying JPS employees. The officers and the JPS employees reportedly entered the woman’s residence without her permission, and she instructed them to leave her property.
“They keep going into people’s yards without permission… they went in the lady’s yard, she was telling them to come out and they [hit] the lady’s daughter in her face, burst up her face and her mouth,” a resident told the Jamaica Observer.
According to the resident, the men shouted expletives, and the teen did likewise. The teen’s reaction is what allegedly caused one of the officers to hit her.
“That’s when he hit the little girl in her face and mash up her nose and mouth, and the mother got involved,” the resident shared.
While this reported altercation does not appear to have been caught on tape, in a video shared online, one of the alleged officers dressed in a blue shirt can be seen forcing the mother into a vehicle. Another officer dressed in a white and black shirt also attempts to get the woman into the truck, stating that she is under arrest.
The man in the blue shirt can later be heard instructing the man recording the video to stop recording, accusing him of obstructing their work. As the woman’s elder daughter, dressed in a black top, and other residents approach the man in white, he reaches for his gun.
The teen, dressed in a red shirt, can also be seen with a bloody nose. The situation later intensifies, with the elder daughter and another armed man getting into a physical altercation.
The man, dressed in a grey shirt, pulled his gun during the altercation, seemingly releasing a shot in the air. Reports state that the woman and both her daughters have been slapped with multiple charges, including indecent language and assault.
Watch the video of the altercation below.
