Taken from The express
Fury against cops
Residents call for justice after police kill Laventille man
Denyse Renne drenne@trinidadexpress.com
Monday, January 4th 2010
Anger: An irate resident protests angrily as police officers try to restore peace at Mentor Alley, Laventille, following the police killing of Triston Cobbler, inset, yesterday. -Photo: STEVE McPHIE
Clutching a jersey once worn by her son, a teary-eyed Wendy Pope pleaded with Member of Parliament for Laventille West, NiLeung Hypolite, yesterday to ensure that her son’s death was not just another statistic.
The plea came after Pope’s 23-year-old son Triston Cobbler was shot dead by officers of the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) early yesterday morning.
Reports from the police and residents are conflicting.
Residents blocked the roads leading into Mentor Alley, scattering and burning debris as they protested the actions of the officers, whom they alleged ’murdered’ Cobbler.
As the protest intensified, several officers attached to the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) swooped into the area in a bid to restore calm.
Police said that around 5.45 a.m., they were conducting routine patrols when they spotted two men acting suspiciously.
Officers said they called on the men to stop, but the men started running and shooting at them.
Officers say they shot back, injuring one and rushed him to hospital where he died.
The other man escaped.
But irate residents disputed the police version of the killing, saying Cobbler and his friend Darren Alexander were returning from a party when they saw heavily armed men who ordered them to stop.
’Obviously if you are in a dark alley and you see men with guns telling you to stop, would you do so knowing what going on in the country? So they started running and the police shot behind them,’ one resident said.
Alexander managed to hide in nearby bushes as officers approached Cobbler who was shot in the leg and lay on the ground bleeding and pleading.
Alexander, 19, ran home where he is said to have been in a state of shock since the incident.
He was later taken to hospital by relative.
A close relative of Alexander told the Express: ’He has been like this since (yesterday). When he came home he was speaking to himself and breathing heavy.’
Cobbler’s cousin Ian Noel, who assisted Alexander to the hospital, said: ’Is an innocent youth they kill. These fellas were not involved in anything. They left a party to come home and this is what happened. Something needs to be done, police just cannot be shooting innocent people and getting away with it.’
Pope, the victim’s mother, told the Express that around 5.45 a.m., she got a call from her son saying he got shot.
’He (Cobbler) did not know I answered the phone and I was hearing him bawling and saying ’Oh God, doh’ shoot me, I cannot move’. ’
Adding that she started getting worried and left Sobo Trace and ran towards Mentor Alley, Pope said when she arrived residents had already gathered outside and she continued hearing her son’s pleas after which several gunshots were heard.
She said her son was then taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where he died upon arrival.
Pope said she wanted justice.
’We really need justice. The police do and do and you never hear anything about these incidents after, justice needs to be served,’ Pope said.
Speaking with reporters Hypolite said he knew the family personally.
’This particular area is quiet and this particular young man was not involved in any particular mysterious acts. This guy is a young fella who loved playing basketball. I do not know what transpired but this is not the way to start the new year,’ Hypolite said.
He said he would arrange for a lawyer to represent the family.
Speaking on a radio programme yesterday morning, acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert said an investigation has already started into the matter and eyewitnesses should make themselves available to the police.
’We invite (eyewitnesses) to come give statements supporting what they saw,’ Philbert said.
He said he wanted to remind people about a number of police officers who were ’lying on hospital beds, who are recuperating in institutions, who have been paralysed and so on, when they have to interact with people who are armed’.
Philbert said when someone was armed they meant business ’and our police officers are trained to defend themselves, to defend the community and they will do that’.
