Dancehall artiste Mavado had to seek medical attention yesterday following an attack that he says was delivered at the Constant Spring Police Station.
By Fabian Ledgister and Teino EvansMinutes to 11 p.m. when THE STAR spoke to the deejay he said that the doctors had re-attached three of his fingers that had been partially severed during an altercation with the police.
The incident is said to have occurred after the police say they received a report that on September 23 Mavado and a group of men had an altercation with another man at a 'dance' along Mannings Hill Road. The man was alleged to have been attacked and injured.
At about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, police say they went to Cassava Piece, and were in the process of arresting him on a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm, when they were blocked by residents.
They further say that at about 4:00 p.m. Mavado marched to the station, followed by a large crowd of residents from the Cassava Piece area, to turn himself in.
Police say that an altercation then occurred at the station with Mavado and the police, resulting in the deejay incurring a second charge of resisting arrest. They say that when they went to get first aid for the deejay who was injured, he escaped police custody.
But Mavado, sang a completely different song regarding the incident.
"Yow a bear tings dem a seh bout me cause dem know wa dem do. How mi fi resist arrest wen a me turn miself in, u tink me a eedyat? How mi fi escape custody wen a dem let mi guh?" asked the artiste.
Mavado says that when he was at the station, he saw a police officer with whom he had previous problems and while being transported to a room for questioning, he was attacked.
"When mi a walk a man shout unu search him an dip inna mi pocket...mi turn an is him han dat pon mi throat, so mi retaliate an put mi han pon him throat an choke him back," relayed Mavado.
The deejay said the two were parted, and as he turned around to continue walking he was forcefully pushed from behind, into a glass window. According to the artiste, the move nearly ended his life.
"When mi head lik di glass, mi see miself a gu tru an mi put mi han fi stop miself, a suh mi finger dem nearly cut off...if a neva mi finga dem, a mi neck di glass woulda drop pon," said the artiste
Mavado's mother, who witnessed when the residents had hindered police from taking him in, relayed her account.
"When I heard the commotion, I go outside and dem did have him (Mavado) ina di barber shop a beat him...one a di police hold me an seh mada, it goi' get ugly, so mi ask him if a kill him a guh kill mi son," said Elizabeth Gordon.
In response to the incident, residents of Cassava Piece mounted a massive road in the area. Police say that during the demonstration they were pelted by glass bottles. A resident however, refuted these claims.
"How a man fi turn himself in, an den resist arrest...a bex di police bex seh wi a support wi artiste. Wi have nuf a dem name, an wi a go a commissioner office guh report dem," said the female resident.
Mavado says despite his horrendous experience at the station, he will be returning there tomorrow to "sort out" the matter. However, he says this time he will have his lawyer present.
