Father of inmate shot at Freeport Police Station demanding answers

MONTEGO BAY BASED auto mechanic Luther Reid, who is still reeling from the news that his son was shot and injured in a bizarre shooting incident at the Freeport Police Station in Montego Bay, St James on Saturday night, is demanding answers from the authorities, and is prepared to take legal action to get it.

“How comes a gun get on the cell block ... . How come a policeman gun end up in the hands of a prisoner? Who is going to be responsible for my son’s medical care?” he asked.

“The police are yet to contact my family. We got the news from people who heard about it and told us.”

SHOT WITH COP’S GUN

Reid’s son, identified as 28-yearold Matthew Reid, and who resides in downtown Montego Bay, was shot in his neck about 7:30 p.m. when an inmate identified as 35-year-old Christopher ‘Big Foot’ Reid reportedly snatched the firearm of a policeman and opened fire.

When The Gleaner contacted the father yesterday, he immediately began panicking.

“A dead him dead?” he asked, sounding quite frightened.

However, when he was told that was not the case, he quickly regained his composure.

According to the elder Reid, his son, who was arrested and charged with armed robbery, is a graduate of Cornwall College, also in Montego Bay, and, in his father’s view, is not a troublemaker.

“Matthew is quite brilliant. He went to Cornwall College on a government scholarship,” said the elder Reid. “One of his sisters is a lawyer in New York and another sister is a doctor, and in my mind, he is just as capable as they are.”

According to the father, when his son’s mother migrated to the United States (US), his sisters, a lawyer and a doctor, followed her there and completed their education. He said he was hopeful that his son would have also ended up in the US, but for reasons he did not explain, that never happened.

“As, I told you, he is quite brilliant and my hope is that one day he too will become a high achiever like his sisters,” said the elder Reid, who also lives in Montego Bay and said he maintains close contact with his son, who lives about five minutes from his home.

“Right now, my concern is about his immediate well-being. He clearly has some medical issues to deal with and, since he got hurt in the custody of the state, the Government should be responsible for that, not his family,” the father added.