By Kisean Joseph
A Bendals family has been left reeling after what they deem to be an unwarranted and brutal police raid conducted on their home in the wee hours of yesterday morning.
Gwendolyn King told Observer she was alerted to a loud thud at around 5am Thursday, which she initially mistook for thunder.
When she went to investigate, she saw “gun and flashlight in my face”.
“About 12 police, well-armed police, in my house,” she continued. “I asked them, well, what is going on here? Up to now, I haven’t gotten any explanation.”
The 77-year-old said her shock quickly turned to horror as she witnessed the officers manhandling her severely disabled son.
King told Observer, “They kick off my youth man’s bedroom door, because the wheelchair is behind it, the pressure pan that broke off the door.
“Telling him to get up, get up, get up. When you look at my youth man you know he has cerebral palsy, born with it, he can’t get up. When you tell him to get up, he has to take his time, because he shakes, you know.
“Because he’s not getting up, they dragged him off the bed. He hit his head and his knee.”
King said she later took her son for medical treatment. An x-ray revealed no broken bones but the injured man, Swain Burton, told Observer he was taking pills for the pain.
King believes the police raided the wrong house but expresses she has, to date, been unable to gain any clarification or redress from the force, despite making reports.
Burton, 40, also told Observer of the terrifying moment armed officers burst into his bedroom while he was sleeping.
He added, “The police should get their priorities straight before they come handle people like that.”
Observer has approached the police for comment. Nothing was forthcoming up to news time.
