It was with utter shock on reading a local police report concerning an accident that happened, according to the Press Release, on Saturday Nov 16^th (I presume that should read Saturday 17^th). The release continues:

“…..the police were conducting a traffic check in the vicinity of Yacht Drive on the Esterly Tibbets Highway. During this check a dark-coloured sedan appeared to slow down to stop upon approaching the location.

“An officer that was at the location approached the vehicle in a marked police car with blue lights on. The officer exited the police car and walked up to the driver’s side of the dark-colored sedan, where he attempted to speak with the driver and the passenger of the vehicle.

“After getting no response from either party, the officer attempted to obtain the license plate number of the vehicle and in doing so walked in front of the dark coloured sedan, that had parked. The driver of the vehicle then drove off and struck the officer with the car, then sped off and broke through the roadblock entering into West Bay.

“The injured officer was given first aid assistance by the other officers on scene and then was transported to the hospital by an ambulance for treatment after being later released. He is believed to have sustained non life-threatening injuries.”

Why would someone drive away from a police roadblock whilst an officer was in front of the vehicle?

What was so bad the driver of the car was trying to conceal that mowing down a police officer in the execution of his duty was secondary to this other crime?

That the officer wasn’t more seriously injured (and not killed) is a miracle.

I can think of no other criminal act so bad other than he was concealing a deab body in the car that could even come close to such a mad act, which he has now committed.

Obviously the police were not suspicious of anything like what happened by the very flimsy descriptions they have given of the car – a “dark-colored sedan”, there is no description given of the two occupants – the driver and/or the passenger.

I certainly feel very, very sorry for the officer who was injured as this incident is something not witnessed here. People flee accidents generally when they have no insurance, driving license, etc.. However, to deliberately mow down a police officer standing in front of the vehicle for such a misdemeanor is madness.

The deterioration in the attitudes between the police and the public has been increasing and whilst much of the blame can be levelled at the police I can understand why, in the USA, police are labelled as being ‘trigger happy. When someone with a gun shoots a police officer who is standing minding his own business or just stopping him/her for a minor traffic violation,, it makes any officer jumpy.

Here in Cayman it is only, thank God, the minority that possesses a gun. Only a complete mad man, therefor, would act like this local driver. I pray the police find this crazy as soon as possible, and the officer he struck makes a fast and complete recovery.