Eyewitness blames Thomas for starting fracas with Dr Thompson

One person who was present for the fracas at Heritage Square between former representative for North Leeward, Jerrol Thompson and former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Jomo Thomas last Saturday, has said in his opinion, the incident was provoked by Thomas.

Thompson is a medical doctor who provides assistance to the Ministry of Health Wellness and the Environment in the delivery of COVID-19 education programmes, including vaccine advocacy, while Thomas, a lawyer, is a fervent anti-vaxxer.

According to the eyewitness, who asked not to be named, Thompson and others were at Richie’s bar chatting when one of them called to Thomas when they saw him driving past in his vehicle.

“He came back, parked and as he was walking towards us, his first words were ‘Can’t talk doc, can’t talk doc. That was his introduction’.”

According to the man, Thompson asked Thomas what he meant by that, to which Thomas responded, “Yes, can’t talk doc, you f*** jackass.”

“Just so, out of nowhere,” the eyewitness said.

“So I asked him twice, ‘Jomo, are you intoxicated?’,” the man related, adding that Thomas responded, saying “No, I don’t drink”.

The eyewitness said he had asked Thomas if he was drunk because he found that he had looked “quite animated”, so he added, “you sure, because that is uncalled for.”

The man said when Thomas joined the group, he changed the conversation to the COVID-19 pandemic and said in his view, the government had erred in shutting down schools, as most of the people who had died from the viral infection in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) were elderly.

The eyewitness told SEARCHLIGHT that he asked Thomas if he had thought about the possibility of children taking the infection home to their elderly relatives.

Thomas apparently did not answer the question, and according to the eye witness, Thompson said “Jomo, answer the question!”

The eyewitness said Jomo responded “in a lawyerly way,” so Thompson said again “Jomo, answer the f*** question.”

“When Doc said that, Jomo stood up and had a chair in front of him and pushed it on Jerrol as if he wanted to fight,” the man said.

He said the two men “squared up” in front of each other, with Thompson saying, “You push the chair and hit me.”

“That is how the fight started,” the eyewitness said.

The man said Thompson punched Thomas in his head, jaw, lip and throat, and that Thomas also tried to hit Thompson, but because of his size, the punches did not reach their target.

“I was trying to pull them apart, look, I almost get box!” the man said.

He said it took four men to pull Thompson off Thomas, because by this time, the lawyer was flat on his back.

“They were lucky that we were there, because the fight ended up on a bench with Jerrol on top of Jomo…. We had to pull Jerrol off of Jomo…

“When we pulled him (Thompson) off, we could feel the tension in his body.”

He said after they separated the men, they were encouraging them to leave, and tried to get as much distance between them both as possible, and at one point, Thompson went to stand on the other side of the street.

“While he was gone, Jomo said, “You know, I could have damaged Dr Thompson; I could have used my taekwondo skills and damaged Dr Thompson!”

“I said Jomo, for real? There is no evidence to prove that a taekwondo man could beat a boxer. So I don’t know what you are talking about…,” the eyewitness related.

The man was asked if he thought Thompson’s response was proportionate to the level of provocation.

“When it comes to fist fights, I don’t know if the term proportional is relevant because Jomo hit him first, but Jomo hit him with a chair. It is an act of violence to me. If a man pushes a chair on me, it is an act of violence. Don’t you think it would have been worse if Doc took up the chair and hit him back?

“Jomo is who rail up first and stand up as if he wanted to fight and pushed the chair in the same action.

“And Jerrol’s blood was boiling, so when that happened, he rushed into him…

“He tried to throw punches but he couldn’t because Jerrol being a taller person than him, he could not get in anything, and basically that is what happened.”

Thompson, in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT on Sunday said he has no apologies to make for striking Thomas as he was defending himself.

Thomas on the other hand, in a post published on Facebook said none of Thompson’s punches hit him and he could have “taken his eyes, throat and balls, his sternum and his legs.

Questions have been asked how come a video of the fracas has not surfaced on social media because of the recent practice of video recording altercations and accident scenes, rather than rendering assistance.

“It was mature people there, no one would have videotaped anyone, and if we were not there, the fight would have ended badly,” the eyewitness said.