Witness rebuts man’s police abuse claim

A San Souci man has refuted the claim by Mt Grennan resident Jamie Liverpool, 23, that an off-duty police officer who had a gun in his waist, manhandled him on Feb. 15.

Liverpool, a DJ who uses the name “Big’$ Profit”, told iWitness News on Feb. 16 that the incident occurred near Jim Bobb’s Shop in Mt Grennan around 5:30 p.m. as he and some friends were having a drink at a shop.

He said that the police officer struck him as he was telling a man who was washing a car that the man had splashed him (Liverpool) with water.

Liverpool said that the police officer struck him in the head and the blow threw him off balance.

As a result, he ended up touching in a way he did not intend, the man whom he was about to tell about the splashing.

However, Kendol Collins told iWitness News on the weekend that Liverpool had misrepresented what had happened.

Collins, 59, said that the police officer, who happened to have been passing by at the time, intervened to save him from an attack by Liverpool.

Collins told iWitness News that he was so enraged by the incident that the actions of the police officer might have, in fact, saved Liverpool from a severe beating.

He said that what happened in the late afternoon might have been started when some men were having a conversation with Liverpool around 1 p.m. after he asked them for and received a drink of rum and coke.

Collins told iWitness News that some men who were at the shop socialising had been comparing Liverpool to a brother who is abroad and were encouraging him to be more like his brother.

He said that later in the afternoon, as he was washing his vehicle, Liverpool was drinking and smoking across the street from him and was hurling insults at him.

He said some persons there rebuked Liverpool and sometime later, he felt a severe blow to the back of his head.

Collin said that about the same time, the police officer who was driving by with a passenger in his vehicle stopped and intervened.

He said that the officer pulled Liverpool off him and the youth seemed to have wanted to fight with the officer.

Collins said that he became enraged when the police officer told him that his head by bleeding, but the police officer intervened to prevent him from retaliating against Liverpool.

He said that Liverpool later apologised to him for his action.

He said that at no point during the exchange did he see the officer beat up Liverpool nor did the officer have a gun on his person.

Collins also said he did not hear the officer speaking about having killed or wanting to kill anyone, as Liverpool claimed.

Liverpool has stuck by his story, claiming that residents of the village are siding with the police officer and that he does not understand why.