Police officers who conveyed a car to the Port-of-Spain impound lot with its owner seated on the car’s bonnet were yesterday described as “foolish” by the head of the Police Association Welfare Body, Insp Michael Seales.
The issue became a talking point yesterday after someone driving alongside the vehicle recorded a video and posted it online.
In the 43-second video, driver Jared Edwards is seen seated firmly on the bonnet of his blue Nissan Wingroad as the car is towed along the Beetham Highway by a wrecker on the way to the impound lot in Sea Lots.
Edwards is seen gesticulating towards the cab of the wrecker as he complains to drivers who were shooting videos.
The person who shot the video narrated that Edwards refused to be wrecked by a police officer and in protest went on top of the bonnet as it was being towed.
The man added that the sight of a man seated on a car caused a traffic jam, as motorists slowed to take pictures and video.
Debate raged on social media about whether the police should have allowed the driver to sit on the car’s bonnet, with many asking if he had been injured what the consequences would have been.
On Edwards’s Facebook page yesterday, one of his friends questioned if it was indeed him who was risking his life.
Edwards himself posted voice notes on WhatsApp, allegedly indicating that a female police officer sought to wreck him while he was inside the car on South Quay.
He said when he got out to argue his case the wrecker moved in and jacked up the vehicle, hence the reason he jumped on it while it was being towed.
He also claimed that when the wrecker put the vehicle down at the impound lot, he got into it and drove off. He claimed police chased after him and fired shots at his vehicle.
However, police last night denied this allegation, saying Edwards was allowed to drive the vehicle away after paying the $500 fine. Speaking to CNC3, police also said their colleagues had no idea Edwards was on the car until they reached the lighthouse and by then it was too late to do anything about it.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian in a telephone interview last night, Seales said he could not defend the indefensible, adding the actions of those who wrecked the vehicle with the driver were guilty of stupidness but said both parties were to blame for the act.
“The association says that is utter stupidness on both parties’ part. The person who stood up there, he put his life in jeopardy and the persons who occupied the wrecker, they are more foolish to have this man there and they conveyed that vehicle to impound.
“That is the worst thing that could have happened and it shows the police in a bad light. It’s the most ridiculous thing the association has seen in quite a long while. The association lends its voice only to say you cannot defend the indefensible,” Seales said,
Police said they would now have to investigate the incident.
Also contacted yesterday, head of corporate communications of the T&T Police Service, Ellen Lewis, said on the evidence of the video alone, it would appear that police best practice was not adhered to.
Edwards is a PH taxi driver from Diego Martin and according to his Facebook profile, also works at Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT).
Other PH drivers on the Diego Martin taxi stand yesterday laughed when approached about the video.
Many said they heard about the incident but were surprised to learn it was Edwards. Port-of-Spain Mayor Keron Valentine, meanwhile, distanced the City Corporation from the act, saying it was a wrecker attached to the Central Police Station.
With reporting by Camille Clarke