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“It is this tendency of the suffering community to turn their anger inward, against themselves, that has made Jamaica one of the most frightening places in which to live. The anger is expressed spontaneously and at random. There are numerous cases of rape, murder, armed robbery, malicious wounding, etc., recorded directly inside the community.”
─ Clarke, Sebastian: “Jah Music: The Evolution of the Popular Jamaican Song”; Heinemann Educational Books (1981), pages 88-89
A SHOCKING DEATH ON EASTER SUNDAY MORNING
BY COREY ROBINSON Observer staff reporter
robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, April 05, 2010
THE relatives of Jamaica Urban Transit Company employee Everton Parchment are clamouring for justice, following his killing by the police early Easter Sunday morning.
Parchment, 32, died at the Kingston Public Hospital about 12:20, after he was shot by a policeman during a spot check on Spanish Town Road in Kingston, 10 minutes earlier.
According to his brother-in-law, Kevin Clarke, who witnessed the shooting, the incident occurred when they and two female friends were heading home from a wedding reception in Portmore, St Catherine.
"He (Everton) was driving and as we reached the vicinity of the St Andrew Technical High School, we saw someone standing in the roadway," said Clarke.
"We came down closer to the person and that was when we saw that it was a policeman and I said, 'Eva, is a police so try stop', and he did," continued Clarke, adding that what happened next was a shocker to everyone in the car and the other members of the patrol team.
Mere seconds after the vehicle stopped, and without a word, Clarke said, the officer opened fire hitting Parchment in the left side of his neck.
"I just heard the explosion, and after I heard it I jumped out of the vehicle and started asking the police what the shooting was for," Clarke said, adding that the frightened females began screaming.
"But then I realised I didn't hear Everton, so I went back into the car and saw him slumped to his left side," he recalled.
Clarke said after shaking Parchment repeatedly, he replied, "Teach, me aggo dead"; one of his last sentences as he gasped for air, he said.
The incident has left Parchment's sister, Audria, crippled with grief.
The despondent woman spent much of yesterday trying to find answers as to why her brother was killed in the manner he was.
"Why them kill him? He is not a gunman, he is a hard-working man coming from wedding? Tell me why?" she cried, her voice cracking in anger after each sentence.
Yesterday, Deputy Police Superintendent Arthur Brown, head of the Kingston West Police Division, while confessing that he knew about the incident, declined to comment on it.
Head of the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) Superintendent Granville Gause, however, said an investigation had been launched into the shooting, and that he was expecting to get a report on it soon.
"The BSI is investigating the matter, from morning the team has been out there and I have indicated to them that I need all statements and other information to be done and reported to me today," he said.
─ Clarke, Sebastian: “Jah Music: The Evolution of the Popular Jamaican Song”; Heinemann Educational Books (1981), pages 88-89
A SHOCKING DEATH ON EASTER SUNDAY MORNING
BY COREY ROBINSON Observer staff reporter
robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, April 05, 2010
THE relatives of Jamaica Urban Transit Company employee Everton Parchment are clamouring for justice, following his killing by the police early Easter Sunday morning.
Parchment, 32, died at the Kingston Public Hospital about 12:20, after he was shot by a policeman during a spot check on Spanish Town Road in Kingston, 10 minutes earlier.
According to his brother-in-law, Kevin Clarke, who witnessed the shooting, the incident occurred when they and two female friends were heading home from a wedding reception in Portmore, St Catherine.
"He (Everton) was driving and as we reached the vicinity of the St Andrew Technical High School, we saw someone standing in the roadway," said Clarke.
"We came down closer to the person and that was when we saw that it was a policeman and I said, 'Eva, is a police so try stop', and he did," continued Clarke, adding that what happened next was a shocker to everyone in the car and the other members of the patrol team.
Mere seconds after the vehicle stopped, and without a word, Clarke said, the officer opened fire hitting Parchment in the left side of his neck.
"I just heard the explosion, and after I heard it I jumped out of the vehicle and started asking the police what the shooting was for," Clarke said, adding that the frightened females began screaming.
"But then I realised I didn't hear Everton, so I went back into the car and saw him slumped to his left side," he recalled.
Clarke said after shaking Parchment repeatedly, he replied, "Teach, me aggo dead"; one of his last sentences as he gasped for air, he said.
The incident has left Parchment's sister, Audria, crippled with grief.
The despondent woman spent much of yesterday trying to find answers as to why her brother was killed in the manner he was.
"Why them kill him? He is not a gunman, he is a hard-working man coming from wedding? Tell me why?" she cried, her voice cracking in anger after each sentence.
Yesterday, Deputy Police Superintendent Arthur Brown, head of the Kingston West Police Division, while confessing that he knew about the incident, declined to comment on it.
Head of the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) Superintendent Granville Gause, however, said an investigation had been launched into the shooting, and that he was expecting to get a report on it soon.
"The BSI is investigating the matter, from morning the team has been out there and I have indicated to them that I need all statements and other information to be done and reported to me today," he said.
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