Home   >   Breaking News   >   Family of deceased detainee says he was murdered, police version has inconsistencies

Family of deceased detainee says he was murdered, police version has inconsistencies

By on November 25, 2013

The Belize Police Department issued a rare weekend “sitrep” concerning the death of Tyson Rodriguez, the 27 year old Dangriga resident who died while in police custody on the Placencia Peninsula over the past weekend. 

On Monday, an autopsy performed by the police’s forensic analyst Dr. Mario Estradabran, completely contradicted the initial police reports that Rodriguez jumped out of a moving police vehicle and drowned. 

According to Dr. Estradabran’s findings, as noted on the death certificate, the cause of Tyson Rodriguez’ death is “asphyxiation by bronchial aspiration, sand – beach type and multiple traumatisms to the chest, trauma type.” 

Rodriguez’ family has retained the services of attorney-at-law Audrey Matura-Shepherd and a statement issued on Monday evening said that “the family has received reliable reports that Tyson did not escape from the police station but rather, after receiving a beating by officers at the Placencia police station, he was escorted out of the station in a police vehicle handcuffed with his hands at his back and never seen again until he was reportedly found dead.” 

According to the family statement “they have no problem with the police arresting charging and even remanding Tyson according to the law, the draw the line where they used brutal force and even murdered him.”

A cousin of Tyson Rodriguez, Keishann Rodriguez, is quoted in the family statement as saying that “those police officers want us to believe he escaped and then someone out there killed him or that he died from drowning, but the physical and medical evidence contradicts their story.”  

Attorney Audrey Matura Shepherd is quoted in the Rodriguez family statement as saying that “Tyson’s injuries are not consistent with someone escaping from a moving vehicle, nor him trying to swim to escape.  Rather a persons or persons held his head down in the sand until he could not breathe and thus sand was found in his trachea and bronchial passage and now those same police officers must answer for this.”

Tyson Rodriguez will be laid to rest on Saturday in Dangriga, according to the statement issued by his family.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA Image

*