Cop beaten, suspect detained

“It was the worst beating I ever see somebody give somebody.” That was how one eyewitness described what she saw yesterday afternoon when Corporal Colin “Sammy” Samuel was reportedly being beaten by Stanley Purcell at the Immigration Department.
At approximately 2 p.m., the officer attempted to escort the All Saints man from the department because, according to the witness, the man was “making plenty noise.”
“He beat off de police officer so bad, he nearly kill him with licks. Apparently, there is this Jamaican woman who has to go home when her three months finish, and then come back if she wants to be in Antigua. And he came and was cursing saying, ‘she deserve every right fuh get time,’ and all they were telling him was ‘don’t make any noise in the department,’ and to wait outside,” the witness said.
The witness, who works at the department, told OBSERVER media that the police officer then approached Purcell and asked him to leave, but he continued shouting.
“The officer held him by the elbow and told him to step outside…the man dropped the policeman on the floor and was pounding on him. If it wasn’t for one of the male immigration officers and two police officers who were passing, we don’t know what would have happened,” the witness added.
Another worker said that after the officer was rescued, he was bleeding from bruises on his “battered” face, and his clothing was torn in several places. She said that the beating “was for about 15 to 20 minutes.”
While the officer was reportedly taken to hospital for treatment and then to the St. John’s Police Station to give a statement, Purcell was taken into custody where he remained until last night.
OBSERVER media reached out to the police department’s Strategic Communications office for comment, but neither Lestor Bagot nor Frankie Thomas responded.