THE CASES OF AL COLLIE AND EUNICE MORRIS

Last week in this column, we reported the story of the arrest and detention of Al Collie at the age of 81 at his home and in hospital as a result of being shot by police officers who entered his home on the Western Road at 1 a.m. in the morning, shot through the door 18 times and hit him 4 times on the basis that he was shooting at them. His home had a history of home invasions. The police charged his housekeeper with stopping them from coming into the house and with being in possession of an unlicensed firearm. Mr Collie had a licenced firearm but the police claim they found another one that was not. The pictures circulating about the shooting showed that the shot was at the roof not at them. In any event, it now appears that the matter has been resolved in Mr. Collie’s favour. He ought to follow with the requisite law suit, given the trauma that he has experienced. This kind of insensitivity on the part of some public officials happens all too often. Mr. Collie is a man of influence so this is resolved but what about the others who do not have that influence. Then the case of Eunice Morris in Grand Bahama who is now in an induced coma because it appears that when she was appearing for bail before the courts, she reported she was ill but the public officials left the office without signing off on her bail release and in the police lock up she fell ill and is now in an induced coma. Signs again of insensitivity. It keeps happening.