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A Customs officer is dead – and his family is claiming that it happened because of police negligence. Over the holiday weekend the Orange Walk Police responded to a fight at a popular night club, which involved a police corporal, and two civilians. Matias Duran, a Customs officer and a civilian by the name of Shawn Richards were detained by police as a result of the melee, and were being transported to the Police Station, when tragedy struck. Multiple reports tell us that Duran had been drinking and was inebriated.

According to a police press release, both Duran and Richards were placed in the pan of the police vehicle. Reports say that they were left in the back of the truck unaccompanied by any police personnel. And while the vehicle was traveling on Queen Victoria Avenue heading to the station, Duran reportedly jumped out of the vehicle and fell on the ground, injuring his head. He was rushed to the Northern Regional Hospital and later transported to the KHMH, where he died undergoing medical treatment.

The story however does not end there. Today a post mortem was conducted and the family of the deceased says that what the police are reporting does not jive with the results of the autopsy. Duran’s uncle Able Jimenez told us more.

Abel Jimenez, Uncle of Deceased
“What the police are claiming, what they are saying, the conditions my nephew was in, his disability he had, he wouldn’t have jumped out of the vehicle.”

Jim McFadzean,
“Was he told he was being arrested? How did the incident evolved from the time he was placed in the back of the police vehicle?”

Abel Jimenez,
“We were told he was being detained and the police personally told me that, he had informed him that he will release him later. So there would have never been a reason for what they are claiming. The family wants the truth. They should come with the truth. A brother of him asked for the police to detain him, to take him so that he would cool off. People out there say he went on his own free will into the vehicle. He went under the custody of the police. The police should have offered full protection to my nephew and the biggest thing is they should come with truth.”

Jim McFadzean,
“There were some reports that he was placed in the back of the pan by himself. But you are saying he was in the back of the police vehicle with someone else?”

Abel Jimenez,
“That is what the police say, that is what the police say. That is what they told me yesterday. According to some persons there were special constables at the back of the vehicle. That is what eyewitness told but the police had him and they should have taken care of him.”

Up to news time, police could not provide us with the result of the post mortem.