Carenage police have begun a criminal investigation into allegations that soliders beat a resident and dumped his body into the sea last Friday.
On Monday night relatives of Brian Smith burnt tyres and threw debris along the Western Main Road, Carenage, near the Carenage Heath Centre, to protest the inaction of the police.
The soldiers being accused are members of the Engineer Battalion who were assigned to repair houses damaged by a low-flying Air Guard helicopter, near St Peter's Bay.
The protest by the residents began shortly after family members viewed a segment of CNC3’s Crime Watch, where host Ian Alleyne highlighted their claims relating to the death of Smith and promised “to get to the bottom of the death.”
The T&T Guardian was informed that Insp Hospedales of the Carenage Police Station would be conducting the investigations and only began his probe after the family protested Monday night.
Police said they were treating the death of Smith, 30, whose body was found floating near Alice Point, Chaguaramas, by prison officers on their way to Carrera Island prison around 7 am Sunday, as a drowning prior to the protest.
Family members told the T&T Guardian they would be authorising a second autopsy on the body of their relative after the first done at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Monday showed that Smith had drowned.
According to relatives, Smith was drinking alcohol with soldiers last Friday when they got into an argument over an illegal electrical connection.
Relatives accused the soldiers of beating Smith with a shovel and after he complained to neighbours about the beating, he was hit in the head and thrown into the sea.
Two witnesses told the T&T Guardian on Monday that the soldiers never touched Smith, other than to remove him from the compound as he was being verbally abusive.
Police have called on anyone with information into the death to come forward.
Civil affairs officer of the Defence Force, Major Al Alexander, said yesterday the Regiment intended to co-operate with the police during their investigations.
Alexander defended the soldiers during CNC3 Morning Brew programme, saying they were not involved in the man’s death. He advised the family to allow the police to do their work. He said witnesses saw when Smith went for a swim in rough waters.
Three weeks ago the downdraft of the helicopter caused an unfinished structure to collapse and uprooted galvanised sheeting from other homes. The Defence Force accepted liability for the damage and agreed to repair the houses. The job is expected to be completed by the end of the week.