POLICE WRECK BOY

[redmanjp]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/POLICE-WRECK-BOY-229636551.html

POLICE WRECK BOY
Screaming 8-year-old towed away in granddad’s SUV
By Gyasi Gonzales gyasi.gonzales@trinidadexpress.com

Story Created: Oct 28, 2013 at 10:29 PM ECT

Story Updated: Oct 29, 2013 at 8:16 AM ECT

Persistent and caring Port of Spain vendors yesterday saved an eight-year-old boy from being towed away by the police while he was screaming for help in the back seat of his grandfather’s SUV.

The police’s defence is that they never saw any child in the back seat of the vehicle as it was heavily tinted.

They also said they attempted to find the driver of the vehicle before they wrecked it but to no avail.

The drama unfolded shortly after 3 p.m. on Charlotte Street, Port of Spain.

According to eyewitnesses, a black SUV had been parked along Charlotte Street near Queen Street. The owner had gone into a nearby grocery while he left his grandson, Nathaniel Jack, in the back seat of the vehicle.

Nathalie Johnson, a vendor, said she along with several other vendors noticed when one of the regular white coloured wreckers began approaching the car in a bid to tow it.

As the SUV was being hoisted she said the vendors along with some passersby began telling one of the police officers inside that there was a child in the back seat.

As the vehicle was still being hoisted several more vendors and passersby now began shouting at both the police and the wrecker driver that there was a child in the back seat of the vehicle and he needed to get out.

Johnson, along with the other vendors, claimed the police officer popped his head out of the wrecker and told them, “We go deal with that at the station,” following which he told the driver to go ahead and tow the SUV.

The vendors said that by this time they began openly cursing both the police and the wrecker driver as well as pounding on the doors of the vehicle, begging for the child to be released.

They claimed the wrecker driver almost ploughed through them as he made his way south along Charlotte Street.

Nigel Belgrave who was a passerby saw the entire drama as it unfolded.

He said he saw when the boy opened the door to the SUV and as the wrecker stopped at the corner of Independence Square and Charlotte Street, he then jumped out and began running.

Some of the vendors went after him and brought him to the Express’ Independence Square office.

The Express called the boy’s father, Irving Jack, and within minutes he arrived at the office.

He had no comment about what happened but said that he was glad his child was not lost or injured. He also thanked the vendors profusely.

The vendors’ story, however, differed from the police’s version of events.

According to the police communications unit, police were on duty in downtown Port of Spain when they had cause to wreck a vehicle which was parked within nine metres of the corner of Queen and Charlotte Streets.

The police said they complied with the “normal procedures” of towing a vehicle in that they walked into a nearby grocery and asked for the driver of the car but no one came out.

The police also said the windows of the SUV were heavily tinted and they were unable to see inside.

They said they then began towing the vehicle and while driving along Charlotte Street they saw people running along the side of their wrecker.

Thinking it was a usual thing for people to be chasing wreckers they continued but when they got to Independence Square a man told them there was a child in the vehicle and they stopped.

They said they checked the SUV again and finally saw the boy fast asleep.

The police claimed a man produced identification stating he was a relative of the child and the boy was released into his custody.

One of the Charlotte Street vendors said, however, that as the boy ran out of the SUV they were the ones who caught him and brought him to the Express.

“If that boy did end up with some ‘raperman’ what would have happened,” the vendor shouted.

The Express can confirm that the boy was brought to its offices by vendors.

Police said they will be investigating this incident further.

[mitsu_chick941]

I see wrecking take place in matter of seconds, no one waits for anyone or anything.

[16 cycles]

if the normal procedure is to look for owner prior to wrecking....multiple videos on tuner showing otherwise...

[redmanjp]

i guess the father could sue them for doing this plus the fine if they illegally wrecked the car

[turbosingh]

Ah sure if is they padna they will let him park freely!

[mitsu_chick941]

if the normal procedure is to look for owner prior to wrecking....multiple videos on tuner showing otherwise...

they don't look for anyone, i witnessed this many a times....they wrecking in about 5 seconds minimum.

[pete]

They do look into the vehicle to see if someone is waiting in it (front seat). Stupidest thing ever. If the parking was a problem the policeman should get out of the wrecker and go up to every vehicle that is "stopped" with someone in it and tell them to move.

The wrecker system is just a tax on stupid people who park where they're not supposed to. Honestly I cannot understand how people keep getting caught. Willing to save $8/$16 and a 10 minute walk from a carpark to where they have to go but want to risk shelling out $500 plus a set of drama to get to where the car is wrecked.

[88sins]

them doh check if ppl in d car at all, or ask for d driver either. they wreck legally & illegally parked cars w/o a thought. them fellas does act like a setta car thieves

[Mr. Red Sleeper]

why leave a child parked in a car anywhere, esp on Charlotte street..?

[jmccomie]

SOmetimes the police officer dont even come out the wrecker....further more they say they checked the vehicle and didnt see a child in it cus of the heavy tint yet everyone else could have noticed the kid in the car.... stueps

[hustla_ambition101]

why leave a child parked in a car anywhere, esp on Charlotte street..?

This, isn't there a negligence charge that could be applied here

[Spitfir3]

agreed..ive never seen an officer come out the wrecker to inspect the inside of a vehicle far less go into a nearby grocery to "look" for the owner....regardless was dumb of the father to leave the kid in the suv and well an illegal park is an illegal park

[Mr. Red Sleeper]

Mind you, the report from the police is comical.

[pluggie]

Honestly I cannot understand how people keep getting caught. Willing to save $8/$16 and a 10 minute walk from a carpark to where they have to go but want to risk shelling out $500 plus a set of drama to get to where the car is wrecked.

If everyone can see things like that, the world would of been an amazing place...

[88sins]

Honestly I cannot understand how people keep getting caught. Willing to save $8/$16 and a 10 minute walk from a carpark to where they have to go but want to risk shelling out $500 plus a set of drama to get to where the car is wrecked.

If everyone can see things like that, the world would of been an amazing place...

But this is typical Trini mentality, cheap and facking lazy !!!

Not so easy eh. If you can't find a parking space in a parking building, it has other places with small privately owned/operated parking lots. But some of these places tell you outright, if you want to park there, you have to leave your keys/remote with them, & some of them does be lookin real suspicious.
Is jus a hard ting to find parking in POS, especially when they want to wreck & write ticket whether yuh park illegally or not

[Sky]

Lol @ check. Ent they try to wreck hondahoede1st while he was in the driver's seat and idling?

[Habit7]

Police not suppose to look in any store for anyone. The understanding of the law is for them to ask anyone in the vicinity (pavement next to the car), then wreck. No parent should leave their child unattended in a vehicle, that is wrong. Illegal parking is wrong. If the child had jumped out of the moving car, the parent is at fault, not the police.

[DVSTT]

Police not suppose to look in any store for anyone. The understanding of the law is for them to ask anyone in the vicinity (pavement next to the car), then wreck. No parent should leave their child unattended in a vehicle, that is wrong. Illegal parking is wrong. If the child had jumped out of the moving car, the parent is at fault, not the police.

Same thing I was thinking

[Dizzy28]

Trying to figure out what is illegal wrecking?

[saxman642]

Dash cam would have revealed the truth...
we need more dash cams in Trinidad!

[Computerman]

Police not suppose to look in any store for anyone. The understanding of the law is for them to ask anyone in the vicinity (pavement next to the car), then wreck. No parent should leave their child unattended in a vehicle, that is wrong. Illegal parking is wrong. If the child had jumped out of the moving car, the parent is at fault, not the police.

[pioneer]

I see no problem here

Grandpa should be charged for abandoning a child

[cacasplat3]

Police not suppose to look in any store for anyone. The understanding of the law is for them to ask anyone in the vicinity (pavement next to the car), then wreck. No parent should leave their child unattended in a vehicle, that is wrong. Illegal parking is wrong. If the child had jumped out of the moving car, the parent is at fault, not the police.

Same thing I was thinking

on set ah bandwagonist saying the police wrong....headline on the front page should have read "Unattended child wrecked away with car"

police not at fault....parent/guardian should get a case.

[altec]

this is not a competition where one side has to lose in order for the other side to win. The driver and the police faked up. The boy paid for it.

[redmanjp]

this is not a competition where one side has to lose in order for the other side to win. The driver and the police faked up. The boy paid for it.

yep both at fault

[pioneer]

You all doin like the boy was handicapped and couldn't exit the vehicle if he wanted.

Grandpa prolly tell him siddong dey an doh move...is righdey righdey ah goin

[turbo_monkey]

I see no problem here

Grandpa should be charged for abandoning a child

X2

How in the hell anybody go leave an 8 yr old child alone in a car? If he was sleeping and no one else was with him...yuh go straight home with him..Grandpa sacrifice common sense for convenience yes

[cacasplat3]

this is not a competition where one side has to lose in order for the other side to win. The driver and the police faked up. The boy paid for it.

please tell me where the police wrong?

soon u will tell me police have to make sure the car have insurance before they tow it....

[DVSTT]

[redmanjp]

this is not a competition where one side has to lose in order for the other side to win. The driver and the police faked up. The boy paid for it.

please tell me where the police wrong?

soon u will tell me police have to make sure the car have insurance before they tow it....

if they didnt check for the driver as the law requires then they would be wrong