Son’s death haunts dad

While the Barbadian version of the George Floyd murder still remains unsolved, a father believes that there should be enough evidence to charge the policeman who put his foot on his son’s neck.

On the fourth anniversary of Shaquon Cave’s death today, his still grieving father, Andrew Cave, is wondering why the toxicology report which is needed to determine his son’s death is still outstanding.

Shaquon died on April 10, 2020, while Barbados was under a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Reports indicate that the 27-year-old suffered a mental breakdown and was running through the streets of Fairfield, St Michael, acting strangely and aggressively.

Police arrived on the scene and, according to eyewitnesses, while Shaquon was lying on the ground holding onto a fence, an officer put his foot on the back of his neck for several minutes, restraining him until more officers arrived.

Eyewitnesses further reported that when he was finally lifted off the ground, he appeared unresponsive.Police would later say that he collapsed and died on arrival in the front room of Black Rock Police Station.

The death certificate noted that the cause of death was pulmonary haemorrhage by undetermined cause pending toxicology.

Cave told the MIDWEEK NATION that when he recently enquired of the investigating officer for an update, he was informed that the sample was sent to Trinidad two years ago for testing and it had not yet been returned.

“They are still waiting for that report and until they get it, the police investigation can’t go any further in respect to bringing a case against any police officer who was allegedly involved,” he said.

However, the father questioned the logic of this: “At the end of the day you can go back to the police report to see specifically which officer or officers were involved at that given point in time. Why do we have to wait? We have a witness who signed an affidavit saying specifically what she saw at the given time.