Barbados’ Coroner has recommended that all police carry tasers and that the Psychiatric Hospital be renamed and rebranded to erase the stigma associated with the mental institution.
Magistrate Graveney Bannister made the suggestions on Thursday at the conclusion of the inquest into the shooting death of 38-year-old mentally ill man Dwayne Frederick Husbands on August 17, 2016.
The Trents Tenantry, St Lucy resident was killed by a shot fired by Constable Derek Boyce after threatening to kill the officer and his colleague and throwing missiles at them, when they went to take him to the Psychiatric Hospital.
The Coroner ruled that Boyce was defending himself and fellow officer, then Station Sergeant Ricardo Phillips, when he discharged his firearm.
“In my view, the actions of the officers were reasonable. Hence, the recommendation for officers [to get] training in the use of a taser, that they will have an additional piece of equipment apart from a baton or firearm. They will have a taser as another defensive [method] of the nonlethal form,” Magistrate Bannister said, noting that these electroshock weapons are used all over the world.
“They are a less lethal use of force . . . and [it] is an option for . . . police. There are built-in mechanisms which record what’s going on at the time that the taser is released. It causes incapacitation of muscles and people are temporarily incapacitated, but the injury is far less to either the police officer or the public. . . . I would say that tasers should be carried by all members of the Barbados Police Service. They should be trained in the use of tasers.”
Husbands, it was revealed, had been a certified mental outpatient of the Psychiatric Hospital from 1998. According to his record, which was given in evidence by a doctor, he was a marijuana smoker with a history of expressing bizarre thoughts; acting strangely; over several days constantly praying, kneeling, kissing the ground, laughing, crying, and taking off his clothes. He received treatment but would relapse after not taking his medication.
“It is unfortunate in Barbados the stigma that is attached to mental health illnesses for persons with mental health. For some reason, people do not want to go to the Psychiatric Hospital because of that stigma.
“I would recommend that the place be given a remake – a new name, a new ethos, maybe call it a wellness institution as we have seen in other jurisdictions instead of calling it the Psychiatric Hospital. . . . Something away from the name psychiatric. Change the ethos so that it will be accepted by both patients and the general public,” the Coroner recommended.
According to the evidence given during the inquest, Constable Boyce and Station Sergeant Phillips had gone to Husbands’ residence to transport him to the Black Rock, St Michael mental health institution following a report by a mental health officer and Husbands’ mother.
However, when police informed him of the report and their intent he, according to the officers, began to throw missiles including rocks and broken glass at them while issuing threats.
Husbands reportedly said: “He [the mental health officer] and my mother wicked. All of you want killing. I gine kill one of wunna today . . . wunna wicked and want killing’.
Constable Boyce was struck in the head by one of the missiles before he issued the warning for Husbands to put down a rock he had in his hand.
That warning, according to the officer, was sounded several times before the gunshot that killed Husbands was fired.
(fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb)
