A Penniston man who police shot in the leg after he attacked them with a cutlass Thursday evening bled to death at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH).
Acting Commissioner of Police, Colin John told iWitness News that Stilson Harold’s unruly behavior that resulted in police shooting him, continued in hospital, preventing medical personnel from treating him for his injuries.
Harold was shot by police who responded to a report that he had stabbed his son.
John said that Harold’s son, Stilson Harold Jr., went to the Vermont Police Station — located at Penniston — with a bandage to his neck and told officers that his father was behaving violently and had stabbed him in the neck with a piece of steel.
Police responded and met the father behaving in a violent manner and threatening them with a cutlass.
They summoned back up and when the additional officers arrived, the older Harold attacked them with the cutlass, the police chief said.
Police fired, shooting the man in the leg.
They rushed him to MCMH, where his violent behavior continued.
Reports are that the gunshot is believed to have ruptured an artery, causing Harold to bleed to death.
The older Harold, who is believed to be in his 60s, is from Clare Valley and is said to have had mental health issues in the past.
Harold is the second man to die in St. Vincent and the Grenadines after being shot by police this year.
On April 17, robbery suspect Raphael Chewitt, also known as “War Teacher”, died when police opened fire on him, after he reportedly brandished a gun at them.
Chewitt was a suspect in the March 15 robbery at Heritage Square that left two persons nursing bullet wounds.
The Glen resident was shot in the chest and arm by police who encountered him while on mobile patrol at Gibson Corner.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the MCMH, located a mile away from Gibson Corner.
Seems like a mental case and a trigger happy police force at display.
No, it is much more than that. It doesn’t have to happen again. It’s like a plane that falls out of the sky. Investigators analyze what happened, make recommendations, and that type of tragedy never happens again. It is a learning experience moment. We live and learn.I’m optimistic, and I watch Mayday a lot on Discovery channel about plane crashes.
So there were just not enough available persons (Security included) to at least hold the mental case man down and strap him down so they could administer the required medical help. Was he deliberately allowed to bleed to death? I wonder.
I wondered the sale thing. Why not hold him down and tranquilize him before treatment?
I was wondering if in a “civilize country” after wounding someone with intent…then threatening the police officers with the same weapon, he would have been shot in the leg? I could just imagine how officers in the great “civilized” USA etc would have handled this…? Kudos to the …SVGPF for caring!
in civilised countries people use tasers
A man who wounded his own son with intent attacked you with a cutlass.. I would like to see who is do brave to use teasers. In fact there are times persons in the US was shot for refusing to follow the police order or if they have there hand in their Jacket. One get was shot to death and when he was searched it was discovered that was a bottle of wine he had. So get real the police acted in the spur of the moment only wounded him. The hospital officials/security with the necessary paraphernalias should have contained the situation. I for one would not hold onto a violent bleeding person, at least not without the protective wears
That was a rhetorical question… (for Al who thinks we in SVG are uncivilized) not meant to be answered.
I will tell you something. On the question of being civil, in reference to this incident. You have to give the SVG police credit for not shooting to kill… but simply wounding him instead…although the end result turned out to be most unfortunate for him.
SVG police certainly turns out to be much more civilize than most, including the USA, where he would have been “shot dead on sight…” after the first warning to drop the weapon.
Why is it that there’s always some sort of lame excuse in favour of victims of fatal police shootings, in particular suggesting that the victim had mental issues etc? When police receive and respond to reports of a violent nature, until they’re warned or briefed by the ones reporting the matter, the police wouldn’t know what they’re going to encounter and hence, will use discretionary and appropriate force as seen fit. After all, they’re the ones who suffer the unbearable heat of the kitchen and we must remember that they have their own lives and the lives of others to protect as well when having to deal with and be confronted by such violent persons.
If the individual suffered from mental issues, then that’s a fact worth taking into account. It should also determine how the situation should be handled.
The point of police officer training is to ensure that the officers themselves are robust enough the handle most situations they respond to. That should be a minimum of training.
Appropriate force is a subjective matter. Loss of life should be always be avoided unless it is unavoidable. In this particular situation, it was avoidable. The police failed in their duties, and the medical services also failed in their duties.
The police didn’t failed in their duties. The victim was shot once in the leg after he charged at them with a deadly weapon. Perhaps the medical personnel failed
Mentally ill people are often shot by police, because they don’t do what police order them to. Officer says “drop the cutlass”. If you don’t, police have no option but to defend themselves. Emergency wards can be dangerous places. We had someone killed here in my town in Canada. He grabbed some scissors waiting to be seen by a doctor. Two officers fired, killed him. Security at our emerg here changed a lot after that. Total reorganization of where patients wait to be seen, and a few more security.
Shame on us again, having to shoot a mentally ill person, Ralph get the police tazer to help them to control this situation better, I asked the police this question over two years ago, but the same shameful practice continues. Stop this now before it grt out into the wider world that in SVG we shoot our mentally ill patients.
I commend the SVGPF for ensuring public safety, shooting him in the leg was not “excessive force” but to subdue him. This was the right move.
How can the staff of the hospital attend to him if he is violent and abusive, the hospital has a responsibility to protect the staff of nurses and doctors.
Just imagine how many people could pretend they crazy just to do as they please and get away.
The end result was unfortunate, but I would not blame the Police. They carried out their duty with appropriate measure.
They did there job ……ppl only tlk shit wen they are knowledge less …….they only talk because they could talk
Before we chastise the police we need to ask ourselves if the police knew the mental state of the victim and the level of threat that he posed, after all he stabbed his own son so in the minds of the officers he would not have think twice to harm anyone of them. They did there job. The hospital needed to put things in place to deal with cases like this because not everyone who not in the medical field would be comfortable trying to restrain someone who is bleeding without the necessary paraphernalias. One never knows if the blood is contaminated.
I spent over three years in Law Enforcement in a foreign nation and the behavior of the Saint Vincent Police is appalling to say the least. They are clearly either untrained or just poorly trained. They seem to be taught to beat, abuse, intimidate and disrespect suspects rather than to detain them until trial. It has also come to my attention that some of the biggest criminals in Saint Vincent are in the Police Force. The question is: who is in charge of these “bad eggs” and why is it allowed to flourish?
It is so true Anthony A these polices here don’t have proper training the very first thing comes to their minds doesn’t matterms is the situation is controllable is abuse and this needs to stop now yes he hold a cutlass make him arm but was he a direct threat to the officers cause I didn’t read nothing in the article said that he tried to attack any of them situation that can be easily handled these so call police office escalate it into something that is much bigger and here there is no justice when an officer mistreat someone their always make some kind of lame excuse for them smh
Does any know if the deceased was diabetic? Someone suffering from low blood sugar will act violent.
Why beat up on the officers, the man was a threat and they had to put him down. They’d warned him before doing so. Remember those three innocent folks who had lost their lives in separate incident recently? That could have been avoided had we pay close attention to this youngster who had [allegedly] committed those crimes. To say our officers are untrained is an understatement. Regarding officers in the US, in spite of numerous training, look at their behaviour in public places, everything is captured on social media.
It really baffles me when I read some of the comments posted on this medium by some people who believe they are ‘Know-it-alls’ and the ‘Solutionists’ to every situation. In reality, when you examine the wake of an analysis being done on man’s ability to deal and handle situations that confront him, I conclude that attaining a well rounded education is not necessarily the foundation nor a requirement for ‘basic common sense.’ This news item has clearly stated that the officers were attacked by the deceased with a cutlass. Now any blind person using a Braille to read this news item would’ve also confirmed that, but I can only assume that some people only see what they want to read and only read what they want to see. It is quite easy for anyone to be seated in pavilions or in seats outside the ring and ‘babble’ their mouths and not being the players/contenders to face the tense and heated completions/activities on the field itself or inside the ring. Now, put the shoes on the critics’ feet with similar situations and challenges as those as with which the hard working police officers are confronted with on a daily basis performing these high-risk duties with their very lives on the line, then all hell would’ve broken loose. Congrats to all u police officers for the bravery and discretion u apply in duly performing your duties to protect us all from the madness that is spreading throughout our blessed soil. Don’t be dismayed by the comments of useless critics and ‘yappers/babblers’.
Investigate the paranoid trigger-happy police officers. didn’t even call an ambulance? did they?
I find it funny how every man or woman that acts up is mentally ill…. Maybe they are just plain evil you ever think of that? Labelling persons with illness is simply an excuse for them to be corrupt. And by the way coming from the so called civilized world in Canada police would have shot to kill he would not have even made it to the hospital! And another point in the emergency rooms in the Civilized world they do not tolerate violent or disrespectful behaviour and they reserve the right to turn you away from treatment if you are! The cops did a good job in this instance! Maybe if they did it more there would be less f***ery happening in the streets and villages!
That was well put together and well said. You’ve driven the final nail. COFFIN CLOSED!