Anyone who knows my family, they will know that my big brother Albert Palmer AKA the skipper called me The Dread. When I asked him why he always say; Allan you are a dread man. I believe this was one of the reason why.
I was a form two student at the intermediate High School. I managed to convince my neighborhood friends to accompany me to Net Ball, under the condition that after half time we will go to Victoria Park to watch the second half of the Soccer match that was being played at Victoria Park. We were all into soccer however; I had became fascinated by the athleticism, superior skills set, the flying ability, and the way these two Netballers were able to contort their bodies even while jumping. I was totally sold by the skills that Joanna Ballantine and Stella Boyea displayed on the net ball court; and not to take away the fact that were two extremely beautiful young ladies Joanna a teenager and Stella slightly older.
My friends reluctantly accompanied me to Old Montrose Netball Center (OMNC). It was clear, they were not interested in Netball or being at the OMNC. We all got into watch the Netball game; I went to a place where I could get a good view of the entire court, to look at one of my favorite sport personalities in actions. While Anthony Culzac and my others friends sat at the gate patiently waited for the referee’s whistle to be sound; to signal the half time period.
I was just getting into the game when one of my friends came to summon me to the gate. He said there is a police officer at the gate and he locked up (arrested) Antho for cursing a dirty word. I had to go to see what was going on, and they all were hoping that I could ensure that Anthony was not arrested. The police officer: Quashie was from the country side (rural area), he was using an old police stereotype. He saw a group of town men (youth) sitting on the steps that led up to the court in a conversation; the young police officer began to stalk the youths, hoping that one of them will cuss a dirty word, so that he could make an arrest and probable gain brownie points with his friends.
Today such behavior is called "profiling" and it deemed illegal. However, that was the type of policing a person who was from Kingstown had to deal with. It was a we against them attitude. There were a handful of police officers, from the Kingstown area and therefore was not enough to influence the attitude of the force. I pick up some of these stereotypes while I was in training to become a police officer. I knew the instructors, after they understood I was a town-man, with a voice (regular published articles in the Newspaper and radio talk show) did their best to modify their language; but it was still evident.
However, I went to see what has happened, on my arrival I noticed the police was holding Anthony by his wrist, Anthony looked confused and very upset. I went over to the officer who was dressed in regular clothes, and I asked him what happened; he said to me, he said fuck and I am arresting him. I asked the man who failed to identified himself as a police officer; "did he cuss you? he answer no. I then asked, who did he cuss, he said no one, I was confused with the whole scenario. Then the officer said: “I was standing here and I hear him say fuck and I lock him up.” I said to the officer, “you cannot arrest someone for saying a dirty word; his use of the word did not offend or hurt anyone. He used it in conversation, he used the word in a conversation with his friend and he did not use it in anger to no one.
The police officer looked at me and said, I don’t care, he “lock up”. I looked at him and I said you not locking up anyone, I then took the back of both forearm, elbow to elbow and wrist to wrist, using both hands together, lay my arm in the area where the police hand connected with my friend’s hand and I broke the officer’s hold on Anthony’s hand. I then told Anthony to go home. I was a year or two older than Antho but he looked up to me at that period of our life; and I felt an obligations to protect him.
I did not anticipate what happened next. As soon as I took away Anthony from the grasp of the police officer, my other friends took my action as the signal to teach the officer a lesson, for messing with us and they all jumped the police officer and lay hands on him. I eventually got the situation under control but the young police officer was well banged up. More than the pain of the blows that was laid upon him; his ego experienced more damaged than his body.
The young officer left the netball center, everyone else including Anthony and the other guys went back to their conversation and I went back to watching the game. Sometime later, I heard the call Allan look S.S.U (Special Service Unite), I was not afraid, however, in my mind, this was the second part of the adventure. We were all fit, involved in aquabatics, and we knew all the ins and out of the Kingstown area. As a result, we all took off, using every short cut, to get out of the netball facility, and we retreated to the nearby cemetery; from where we looked on at the events. at the time, I surely did not understand the seriousness of my actions.
However, on his return, the officer who was eager to show his authority, began to point out people at random, and as he point them out, the uniformed S.S.U officers that came with him, began to arrest the people who he pointed out even some of the netballers that did not have anything to do with the incident were arrested. None of the people that was arrested had anything to do with the incident. This made the officer looked silly; they were all release because they were falsely arrested. The young officer’s supervisors could not rely on his ability to identify the person who had beaten him up. His hast was an embarrassment to the police officers who responded to the scene, and to his supervisors but more so to the show off Police officer.
I was a student at the Intermediate High School (IHS) also known as Timmy School. Attending the Intermediate High School was convenient for me. Each day after school finished, for the day at 1:00 PM; I went to the St. Vincent Auto Motive Corporative Gas Station on Bentic Square to help my best friend:Winston "#10" Franklyn ply his trade, there I helped a friend and in turn put a few dollars in my pocket.
One day, after school, I was at the Gas Station on Benthic Square helping my friend “#10” repair vehicle tiers; the SSU transport were taking people on duty, the young officer was in the vehicle and he saw me, as a result, the driver made a quick turn into the gas station, to see how I will react. If I run, then they will come in pursuit of me. I saw the vehicle turn onto the compound of the Gas Station and pulled up to the air pump; they all had their eyes on me. I walked over to the vehicle and I asked the driver would you like to have air in your tiers. He answered yes; I asked him how much pounds will you like to have in the tiers he said 35 pounds, I proceeded to inflate the four tiers to the require poundage after which they left.
The young officer was sure that I was the man who obstructed him in the line of duty, but he just could not prove it. In addition, his supervisors did not want to make the same mistake they did a few weeks earlier; Making another false arrest on the counsel of a confused officer.
Each time the Special Service Unit transport pass the St. Vincent Automotive Corporative Gas Station on Benthic Square and PC Quashie was in that vehicle, his eyes burned a hole through me with his eyes. For this reason Antho stop coming by to help #10. He could not wait to get his hands on me. My friends who remember him and what happened will bring his behavior to my attention. I was too busy helping my best friend Winston "#10" Frankly to noticed. It was going to be a difficult task for Quashie to get to me, for the simple fact, I was very discipline and ordinarily I was a law abiding person.
However, fast-forward a year; At this point in my life, I was a 3rd Form student at the Intermediate High School (IHS). To Be continue...........
PS This is how I remember this story, some people remembered me playing a bigger role. As usual I am to be blamed.
Next week Part 2
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Next week Part 2
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