Fitgerald Pascal (left) who was shot in the foot on June 14 by a cop.
The sister of a man who was accidentally shot by a policeman one week ago is upset that she has not only been left to carry the burden of the medical bills, but the officer has not been seen or heard from since the incident.
On Saturday, Cleopatra Pascal told St. Lucia News Online (SNO) that her brother, Fitz-Gerald Pascal, 24, of Rosehill, Castries was accidentally shot in the left foot by an officer in uniform at about 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 14. The incident occurred at the Marchand Grounds during a football match.
Below video taken moments after the shooting
Fitzgerald is currently at Victoria Hospital awaiting surgery, but he’s unable to foot the medical bills to proceed.
“My brother is unemployed and I just got a job,” the sister said. “We are not in a financial situation to pay medical bills. As a result he could not take the medication prescribed by the doctor Sunday evening, hence his foot getting infected. He was to undergo surgery on the 25th because of the fractured bone, but now his foot is infected, they have to drain the blood to limit the risk of him losing his foot.”
Cleopatra said an official police report was filed on Wednesday “but the officer is behaving like it did not happen”.
The sister claimed that on Sunday her brother and his friends were attempting to calm the police officer, who allegedly pulled his firearm during a verbal confrontation with a young female. The officer allegedly fired a shot towards the ground, injuring Fitzgerald instead.
“My brother and his friends were telling the officer to cool out. When it happened they told him he shot my brother. He said he didn’t, then my brother took off his shoe, the officer held his head and left the scene. So one of my brother’s friends called the police. They came, took my brother to the hospital, took his name and number and left. He has not heard from (the officer who did the shooting) since,” Cleopatra explained.
The sister has since gone to social media to express her frustration.
“I have been silent because I was too busy looking after my wounded brother but now I want everyone to hear what is happening to innocent citizens here in St. Lucia,” she said in a post on her Facebook profile.
The sister, who gave the full name and rank of the officer, further claimed in her social media post that the officer accidentally shot her brother because his “ego/manhood” was being insulted by the young female from Leslie Land.
“As a result, he decided, after what I would believe would be a number of years of training, to fire a shot to the ground thus injuring my brother who was an innocent bystander along with his friends, who were trying to calm the young lady and the officer. What is wrong with these policemen? They demand respect from the public but the majority of them go about shooting up the place and abusing their authority.
“Shouldn’t policemen be trained to use different forms of action when being faced with such a situation? I do not understand how this is deemed right for an officer to fire his gun under such circumstances, something needs and will be done about this. My brother now has to undergo surgery to insert metal plates in his foot, all because an immature individual was given a gun and who was sworn to serve and protect.”
