Taxi driver shot dead; cops under close arrest; inconsistencies found

SHOT DEAD IN POLICE CUSTODY: 45-Year-Peter Headly

Two policemen (a constable and Lance Corporal) attached to Regional Division 4B have been placed under close arrest following the shooting death of a taxi driver by the constable while the taxi driver was being escorted in a civilian vehicle by the police to the Providence Police Station. The vehicle was at the time being driven by the Lance Corporal while the constable was seated in the back.

The two policemen were placed under close arrest after their initial account of the circumstances which lead to the shooting death of 45-Year-old taxi driver Peter Headly was riddled with inaccuracies. This lead to the Police Office of Professional Responsibility being called in.

An early Sunday morning statement from the Guyana Police Force stated that the arrest of Headly and another man was done after they were intercepted in Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara with a television set inside the vehicle.

The police were at the time acting on information that the television was one which was stolen during a robbery at Herstelling on May 11, 2021, (four days before last night’s incident)

When the police intercepted the vehicle, Headly was said to be the driver but the police did not make that clear in their statement neither did they provide the vehicle’s registration plate as is customary in such cases.

Headly was reportedly placed in the front passenger seat of the said car (without handcuffs) while the police Lance Corporal drove and the constable sat in the back.

The two ranks claimed that Headly reached for what appeared to be a gun, the police statement said.

“Peter Headly reached under the seat of the vehicle and pulled out what appeared to be a firearm, causing the armed rank to discharge a round which hit him to his body”

At no part of the Guyana Police Force statement did they provide clarity on if they eventually found a firearm in the vehicle or any other object that they claimed might have been reached for by Headly, which caused him to be shot by the police.

The police statement also omitted claims by the policemen who were in the car that a scuffle between lone uncuffed suspect, the driving policeman and the one with a gun in his hand at the back seat, reportedly took place.

BIG Smith News Watch was informed that the ranks reportedly told their colleagues that after the man was shot, the Lance Corporal continued driving all the way to the Diamond Hospital without stopping.

There was no clarity from the police on if the vehicle was searched thoroughly after finding the television set imside and before moving off with the alleged suspect for the police station.

The Police statement also failed to confirm and or clarify if a search was conducted on the vehicle immediately after the now shot victim was handed over to hospital staff.

However, BIG Smith News Watch has been reliably informed that sometime after 02:30 hours, a firearm was reportedly found on the roadway along the stretch between Nandy Park and the Guyana National Stadium.

It was after that find that the policemen who were in the car with Headly, reportedly told colleagues that after Headly reached under his seat for what appeared to be a firearm, he tossed the object out of the window.

It is unclear, if as the police claimed, a weapon was tossed out of the vehicle window, why was the car was not stopped immediately to retrieved said weapon.

A different group of police ranks reportedly turned up at a location where the incident took place and reportedly found a firearm.

There is no official statement from the police on that aspect of the developments but this publication has been told that the force is carefully examining all aspect of this case before even  attempting to link the alleged found weapon gun as being in the possession of or was being handled by the man the police arrested and killed.