State to compensate ex-cameraman for assault

FOR the second time in as many months, the State has agreed to compensate a former reporter for assault and battery.

Last week, attorneys for the State wrote to Akile Simon’s attorney admitting liability in the assault claim and agreed for compensation to be paid once assessed by the court. The consent order has been presented to Justice Kevin Ramcharan who is expected to make a final order on damages.

In July 2022, Simon’s attorney Abdel Mohammed filed the claim for assault arising out of an incident in August 2018 when the former reporter and cameraman was recording images for his then-employer, CrimeWatch Studios, in San Juan.

Simon was on the Priority Bus Route in the vicinity of a bank when he saw a group of people huddled together on the pavement. His claim said the group appeared to be police officers in plain clothes.

As he began recording, he heard someone shout, “I don’t want no cameras down here”.

An officer, identified as acting sergeant Curtis Applewhite, left the group and went to the area where Simon and another senior officer were standing to repeat the demand that he did not want cameras there.

The acting sergeant, the claim said, then crossed the crime scene tape to where Simon was standing outside of it and allegedly began shoving the former cameraman, striking him on the chest with a diary and pushing him onto the PBR.

The lawsuit also contended that Simon was warned by the officer he would be arrested if he returned to the area.

Simon continued taking video images from outside the crime scene and away from the police before the crime scene area was widened to include the outer end of the walls on the PBR.

After the incident, Simon made a report at the San Juan police station and identified the acting sergeant who was seated at a desk in the charge room.

He was approached by the officer who requested they have a conversation outside the police station. Simon, the lawsuit said, accompanied the officer who told him to forget about the incident, referring to it as a “lil misunderstanding.”

Simon sought medical attention at the Chaguanas health facility after he began experiencing chest pains in the area where he was hit with the diary. He also reported the incident to the police’s Professional Standards Bureau.

The lawsuit said on October 16, 2020, he saw a police press release that said Applewhite had been arrested, charged and granted bail for an assault charge.

“The claimant on reading the said press release knew that the press release was in relation to the incident in which he was assaulted.”

The press release, which was provided in the lawsuit, said the decision to charge the officer was based on advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The release said, “The officer’s arrest arose out of an incident which allegedly occurred on Saturday, August 19, 2018, where it is alleged that the virtual complainant was in San Juan and began filming a crime scene on his video recorder. The virtual complainant alleged that the accused advanced and shoved him repeatedly in his chest and shouted, ‘I do not want any cameras behind here.’

“... The virtual complainant was subsequently detained pending enquiries, however, during the course of the investigation several persons were interviewed, statements recorded, CCTV footage and a medical report obtained were all in favour of the virtual complainant.”

Simon’s lawsuit said the entire encounter was captured on his camera which was provided to the PSB.

He contended at the time of his assault, he was always within a safe area away from the crime scene and at no time attempted to enter it or interfere with the police tape so there was no need for the officer to use force against him.

“The claimant continues to suffer fear and anxiety that police officers, servants and/or agents of the defendant, will continue to assault him and/or illegally remove him from public spaces while capturing video images in the course of his employment as a cameraman, which is not a criminal offence,” the lawsuit also said.

In June, a High Court judge ordered a little over $150,000 in compensation to Simon who was wrongly arrested and charged while filming at a crime scene in Cocorite.

On the day the case was expected to go to trial, the State conceded liability. In making the order, Justice Frank Seepersad said the case highlighted a lack of respect for the media and press freedom.”

“There is seemingly an aversion, especially in the realm of public operations to honour the tenets of accountability and transparency,” he said.

“The action adopted by the police was not only ill-advised and reckless but struck at the heart of the core democratic principle in relation to press freedom and this court will not tolerate the arbitrary inference with the ability of the media to discharge its function,” he added.