Brandon Charles: Another Victim of ‘The System?’

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]undreds of hours are ahead of me to be spent dancing, playing music, writing and reading, earning degrees, starting a family and developing my career skills. “Twenty-two! You’re just a baby,” my managers would say, countless times while confronting my youthful grin with their aged, wiser countenances.

But just one year older than I am, at twenty-three, Brandon Charles struggles on his crutches, limping to the other side of the road while Castries City drivers impatiently tap their steering wheels. The once ardent football fan and regular player is now a leg amputee—a victim of a police shooting.

On 21 February 2014 Brandon found himself with four acquaintances at what he referred to as “the pound,” where police officers keep confiscated vehicles. When the police officers discovered them, an altercation occurred; the boys were arrested. They were unarmed and had allegedly surrendered to the police. However, three of the five boys were taken by separate ambulances, all with gunshot wounds. Brandon’s encounter was life-changing.

By his account, the police officer pinned him to the ground on his stomach while verbally threatening them.

“In my mind,” Brandon recalled, “I said maybe he rest it there so I will not try to escape or move. Until I heard a gunshot and it burst through my kneecap. Then he tell me if wasn’t for human rights he kill me and we’ll never walk to come back there again and stuff.”

Brandon’s lawyer and well known human rights activist Mary Francis picks up the story: “Clearly in those circumstances there was no case of self-defence, or resisting arrest on the part of the police on that night four years ago. Consequently, in such a case unlawful shooting was alleged, constituting assault and battery, as it was done in bad faith on the part of the police officer.”

Brandon’s personal account of what happened afterwards was even more disturbing. He claims the officer who shot him removed the tourniquet he had wrapped around his knee to stem the bleeding.

Brandon underwent four surgeries and an amputation. On 14 March 2014, as soon as he was discharged from Victoria Hospital, Brandon was again arrested and charged with trespassing and “they said damaging property.”

During court proceedings, Brandon recalled, the testimonies given by the five witness police officers—including the one responsible for his lost leg—were in conflict. The judge ruled against Brandon, anyway.

Mary Francis has lodged an appeal. One of her grounds is that “the judge erred in law when he found that the evidence adduced during the trial was insufficient to maintain a finding of bad faith against the police officers.” The claim of “bad faith” had previously allowed Brandon to file against the state three months outside of the regular six-month limit.

“Imagine having been mercilessly shot by police and having your leg amputated at age 19,” she told this reporter. Brandon has been unable to work. He suffers continuous pain from the amputation of his leg and requires corrective surgery. In fact, his human dignity has suffered a terrible blow.”

As for Brandon, throughout the time he recalled his experience, for the purposes of this story, tears rolled down his cheeks.  “I liked playing sports, football, cricket, basketball. Now I cannot run or kick a ball. I was playing for a club and I could have gone very far in sports. It hurting me very bad when I watch my friends playing football on TV. I can’t even bring myself to talk about football. It hurting me real bad.”