NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The chairman of the Police Staff Association says videos showing an interaction between Minister of Transport & Housing Jobeth Colbey Davis and police officers are not conclusive about whether she hit an officer with her car because they do not show the full incident.
Ricardo Walkes’ comment to Eyewitness News came as Police Commissioner Paul Rolle said an assistant commissioner is investigating the matter.
“I have one of the assistant commissioners conducting an investigation to find out exactly what happened so that’s a matter under active investigation,” Rolle said.
“We are dealing with that from within. I don’t have a timeline. Whenever that is finished, I don’t know that it’s something I will be discussing so much in the media, I don’t know what the outcome is going to be.”
The altercation involving the minister and an officer happened as carnival festivities continued earlier this month.
In a statement last week, Walkes claimed the officer sought medical attention and had to be treated in hospital for his injuries. He said the driver shouted ‘do you know who I am’ at the officer and hit him twice.
Videos that circulated over the weekend showed several police officers talking to a woman in a jeep. They do not show evidence of an officer being struck. In one of the videos, a man is heard shouting “assault a police officer…”
Walkes said: “The video that I have seen doesn’t prove anything. The officer was by himself when the incident took place, not with other officers nearby. The video that’s going around shows what happened afterwards, not what happened before the officer called and received backup.”
Colbey-Davis has strongly denied the allegation that she struck the officer with her car.
Last week she said: “I stand by my previous statement that it is untrue what is being said and like my grandmother always say, the last laugh is the best laugh.”
“And so I will wait for all of the other information to come forward but I stand by the statement that that is untrue. That is not my character. I had my three-year-old daughter with me on Saturday so I would never act out in her presence. Even if it was my character, I would not. That’s not my personality and I would not do that in the presence of my three-year-old daughter.”