Evan Cain Charged with Aggravated Assault Following Traffic Checkpoint Incident in Belize City

Evan Cain, a resident of rural Belize, was arrested this morning as he commuted into Belize City.  His detention stems from an incident caught on video yesterday where he assaulted a traffic officer and pushed him off a bus. The incident occurred yesterday at around nine thirty as Belize City Traffic personnel, Kenrick Deshield, was with other officers conducting a checkpoint on the Philip Goldson Highway.  During the checkpoint a Fu We Transport bus was intercepted after officers observed several standees in the vehicle.  To make matters worse, it was later found that the bus was operating without insurance.  Deshield mounted the bus to speak with its driver, Ocean Blease, but he was aggressed by Cain who assaulted him and ejected him from the bus. Today, police arrested and charged Cain with aggravated assault and are expected to take him to court tomorrow.  The incident was caught on camera, and has garnered outrage from the court of public opinion.  Echoing those very sentiments is Erin Garnett, Director of Communications for the Belize City Council who indicated that this is not the first time that a traffic officer was abused. 

Erin Garnett, Director of Communications, Belize City Council: “Obviously Benjamin, very disappointed again. A few weeks ago, we spoke about an incident on St. Thomas Street where another officer was trying to do his job again and got his foot run over by a driver while trying to stop her from going through an impassable zone. And so again, we are very disappointed in this situation. The bus was stopped by the officer because the bus was overcrowded and because they were operating with the door open traveling on the road. And so obviously he was well in his rights to stop to give a ticket. And a passenger on that bus had obviously a very bad reaction and our officer was assaulted, something which should have never happened. It is very important to note that these officers are in place, Belize City Council Enforcement Officers, police officers, all of the people who are in this line of work are in place to ensure compliance and most importantly, and number one, to ensure safety. Safety of our residents, safety of the driver, safety of the passenger, everybody. And so in doing his job for that to happen is just extremely unacceptable. And we are very happy that they took the right steps, our officer and the manager of the enforcement department directly went to make a police report and that is how it resulted in an arrest this morning.”

With recent amendments made to the Criminal Code Act, Chapter 101 and the Summary Jurisdiction (Offence), Garnett faces up to five years in prison for his actions.  It was back in February that the Senate ratified the amendments, expanding the definition of aggravated assault to protect prosecutors, judicial officers, public officers, members of the media, teachers, elected officials and security-related personnel, by upgrading the use of threatening words or behavior from a petty offence to a serious offence.   Garnett noted that this incident coincides with training sessions on these recent amendments.

Erin Garnett, Director of Communications, Belize City Council: “The ironic thing about this entire situation, and we have to highlight the respect for these people. And like I said, these people are in place for safety, safety of us, right? Our safety. And so the ironic thing about this is that yesterday, when this incident happened, we have been having training our officers along with the Belize Police Department. They have been having trainings because this year, the Belize Criminal Code Act was revised, right? It was amended. And now it has changed the penalties for assaulting an officer. Previously for assaulting an officer it was a common offense. And now it is a criminal offense. And so instead of two years imprisonment, it is now five. And so the act also speaks to using threatening words to these officers. Previously it was a $50 charge and now you could spend up to three years in prison for doing things like this. And so we thought it was very ironic that while our officers are undergoing these trainings and learning about these new laws put in place to protect them, that this incident would happen, which clearly shows how important this amendment was to protect these people that do these types of work.”

Cain is slated to be arraigned in court tomorrow.