With many questions about the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Arnold Joseph still unanswered, most of them inspired by confusing police press releases, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force has issued yet another statement following another fatal police shooting. This time the victim was Dylan Fontenelle of Bois Den, Choiseul, whom the police claim was a wanted man. To quote the police: “During the course of June and July 2019, a total of twenty-six reports were made against Dylan Fontenelle, including damage to property, damage to motor vehicle, wounding, arson, threats and assaults. Eight of the said reports were made on Thursday, July 25, 2019”—three days before the wanted man’s death. Details of the events leading up to his death are puzzling, to say the least. The police say that despite him being a wanted man, Fontenelle “was able to flee his residence and evade arrest”. However, a few days after Fontenelle escaped arrest, the police would go on to find him in, of all places, his residence. “On Sunday, July 28, 2019, about 7:00a.m. officers returned to the residence of the thirty seven year old resident of Bois Den [Dylan Fontenelle].” How did they know he had returned to his residence? The statement does not explain. After twenty minutes of attempting to subdue the fugitive who was “armed with a metal rod and saw”; and who “proceeded to strike an officer with the said rod several times”; the release states that “live rounds of ammunition were discharged in his direction”. Why a lethal course of action was suddenly taken isn’t made clear. Also, the RSLPF has informed the STAR that answers to the above questions cannot yet be released to the public, as the investigation is ongoing.
Only last week, in relation to the police shootings of Kimberly De Leon and Arnold Joseph, as well as the cutlass assault on an arrested individual by an officer, Travis Chicot, the PWA president stated: “We continue to say, especially with some of the latest incidents, that it’s not a true reflection of the police force. However, those matters are under investigation, and we’ve said to members, any time they get themselves involved in matters and they are found wanting, they must understand that they have to face the music.”
Although Chicot argues that these incidents are not a true reflection of the RSLPF, and Rayian Clerice—the officer caught on video assaulting a handcuffed individual with a cutlass—was charged with assault last Friday, the frequency of unexplained fatal police shootings, particularly in light of the IMPACS report, is yet another blow to the image of the force.
When asked if there must be more transparency with regards to the RSLPF, Chicot exclaimed: “Definitely! Transparency is something that we all need to employ in organisations. It’s very important that we inform the public as to what is happening, especially with matters under investigation. I believe that every step of the way, we need to come out, whether through a press briefing or through a memo, and inform the public as to what is happening.”
But the problem with recent RSLPF press releases, most notably the one with regards to the killing of Arnold Joseph, is that they leave us with more questions than answers.
