POLICE used non-lethal force to subdue two men acting violently in separate incidents on Saturday.
Reports indicated that around 3.45 pm on Saturday, PC Mahabir and a party of officers of the Couva Police Station, responded to a report of a road traffic accident in which a vehicle had crashed into a gate.
The officers went to the home of the driver of the vehicle who came outside and was being abusive to the officers and began advancing toward them in a violent manner and resisting, reports stated.
PC Marcus and a party of officers came to the officers’ assistance and eventually had cause to use a taser gun to subdue the suspect.
The suspect was taken to the Couva Health Facility, then transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital for further test regarding injuries caused by the vehicular accident.
In the other incident, officers were proceeding along Pelican Extension, Morvant, around 2.30 pm on Saturday when they observed a group of men liming under a bamboo patch at side of the road.
Some of them were not wearing face masks.
Officers enquired about the reason why they were not wearing face masks in public.
One of the men became irate and started behaving in an aggressive and disorderly manner towards the police officers, refusing to give his name so that he could be issued with a ticket, police said.
The officers attempted to arrest the man for disorderly behaviour when a struggle ensued.
Police said in keeping with use of force policy, pepper spray was used.
The suspect was arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest, and was also issued a fixed penalty notice for failing to wear a face mask.
Non–lethal weapons, like pepper spray and tasers, were introduced by Commissioner of Police, Gary Griffith, to bridge the gap between firearms and batons, as these give officers an intermediate option for situations that do not require the use of lethal force.
These incidents align with the TTPS’ updated use of force policy which allows for non-lethal weapons to used when persons are being aggressive, threatening, resisting arrests, assaulting police or other persons, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service stated.
