Sunday, October 15 2006

click on pic to zoom in

Mitch Rajnauth...

A SECONDARY school teacher is claiming police brutality after he was reportedly beaten and humiliated by a plainclothes police officer following an accident with a security vehicle on the Chaguanas Main Road on October 4.

Mitch Rajnauth, 28, a Mathematics teacher at Belmont Junior Secondary School, said he sustained a large gash to his forehead and the back windscreen of his car, PBJ 1807, was smashed during the attack.

At a media briefing yesterday, Rajnauth, flanked by his attorney Om Lalla, said civil proceedings will be filed against the police officer and the security company involved in the incident. Rajnauth said he was driving his Honda Civic along the main road at approximately 3.15 am, when the security vehicle swerved into his lane and both vehicles collided. He said he pulled to the curb to inspect the damage to his vehicle and shortly after another car pulled up in front and a man alighted and began swearing at him.

Rajnauth said he was stunned since the man did not identify himself as a police officer and was not involved in the accident. He said he tried to reason with the man who grabbed him and slammed his head into the back windshield of the car. The officer then reportedly identified himself and threw Rajnauth into the back of the security vehicle. He was taken to the Chaguanas Police Station where the officer threatened to charge him with using obscene language.

Rajnauth’s ordeal did not end there as he was deemed to be in need of medical attention by officers at the police station. He said he was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex by the same officer. No charges were laid against him.