Policemen, ex-policewoman charged with assault

FOR three separate instances of alleged misconduct and assault, two policemen and one former policewoman were arrested and charged and are expected to appear in court today.

Former constable Carla Thomas-Hernandez, 37, who resigned from the police service in August last year, is expected to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate charged with misconduct after she got into a verbal altercation with a woman who attempted to report a stolen cell phone in June last year.

The woman was allegedly forcibly removed by Thomas-Hernandez, arrested when she attempted to re-enter the station, and was charged for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Thomas-Hernandez was arrested on Monday by members of the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB).

On Wednesday, a Special Reserve Police constable John Baynes was arrested and charged for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The charges arose from an incident on April 22 where Baynes allegedly assaulted a man at the Arima police station where he was assigned. Charges were laid by acting Cpl Mohammed, of the PSB.

Yesterday afternoon, PC Angelo Cedeno, 40, was arrested, at the IATF base after members of the PSB received advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions to charge him with common assault.

The charges arose from separate alleged incidents between December last year and November this year in which Cedeno allegedly physically assaulted and threatened the lives of a woman and her son at gun point, at the alleged victim’s home.