KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – The cop accused of the unlawful arrest and assault of Vincentian Ambassador to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves in New York has not been stationed outside the embassy building since the incident on March 28, according to Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.
Gonsalves said this is among several changes at the building in lower Manhattan, New York.
“Officer Parker, who is the chief antagonist”, has been replaced by non-Caucasian cops, Gonsalves said at a press conference on Tuesday. “I don’t know what, if any[thing], is the significance of this,” he further said.
He told reporters that the New York Police Department has erected a formal barrier where, previously, metal barriers leaned against the sidewalk.
The cop is said to have pursued and arrested Ambassador Gonsalves after he stepped through the barricades to access his office building.
Ambassador Gonsalves has said that he has been doing this since he was appointed almost five years ago and other diplomat do the same thing, including on March 28 — when he was arrested.
“Now, for the first time in four and a half years, the railings are joined and tied together. Before, they just simply existed with space, so you can walk through the space, which is exactly what Ambassador Gonsalves did for four years plus,” the Prime Minister said.
“I think all this is very instructive as to what has taken place since.”
He further said that a Trinidadian national employed in the lobby of the building, who is on good relations with the occupants and who Ambassador Gonsalves had stopped to talk to and had witnessed the incident, has been transferred to another building.
“Now, again, this is probably purely coincidental. So I make no comment, save and except to state the facts,” he said.