Assault charges laid against man being hit by police in video

The young man shown in a video being hit in the head by a police wielding a baton, has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and resisting arrest.

Kishal Joseph of Layou had been given station bail before his court date last Friday, and so he walked into the Serious Offences Court without handcuffs.

He sported a playboy bunny tattoo on one side of his neck, a dollar sign tattoo on the other, and a sizeable bandage over his right eye.

He was not represented by a lawyer but came with a woman who kept holding urgent conversations with him. After court, the two could be heard discussing as they walked away, and the woman appeared to be scolding him on the matter of a statement.

In videos which circulated across social media last week, a man appears to hold onto a police officer’s shirt, while the police officer holds onto him as well. The two were in the parking lot of Massy supermarket at Stoney Ground. The police officer seemed to lead the young man by his shirt for a short distance, until another officer comes up to the two. The second officer hands a baton to the first officer who seems to hold it up and bring it down squarely on the individual’s head. There were three other attempts shown, one of which seemed to hit the mark again.

Responses to the video have been mixed, with persons either showing anger towards the police officer, or empathy.

Joseph was charged before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias last Friday with, on February 27, in Kingstown, assaulting Seldon Searles of Belair causing him actual bodily harm. Further, he was charged with, on the same date and in the same place, resisting the arrest of PC429 Seldon Searles, he being a police officer in the due execution of his duty.

The case was adjourned to May 22 and transferred to the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court.

When the video surfaced last week Wednesday, the constabulary issued a release following it, which indicated that they were aware of the video, and that the matter was currently under investigation.