Corporal’s Transferred Soon after Incident Involving Another Officer

Transfers for police officers from one district to another normally take place around this time of year, but one transfer has raised the interest of some individuals. The transfer of Corporal Anastacio Uh on August first from San Pedro Town to Belize City is of interest to those who are familiar with the circumstances of an incident that occurred on the island back in July. It came on the heels of an incident on July seventh when the same corporal took a statement from a minor who did not implicate a man who a sergeant of police was seen gun-butting and kicking on the street. The report was that Sergeant Devon Makin was off-duty when he got a report from a minor that two masked men were chasing him. Makin pursued and apprehended twenty-two-year-old Ryan Melendez, and the video that was circulated showed how Makin manhandled Melendez. It turned out that the statement the child gave in no way pointed to him as one of the suspects. Corporal Uh received his letter not long after that, stating that his transfer would have become effective on August first. In it, he was informed that he would gain one hundred dollars in patrol allowance but that he would lose two hundred dollars for jungle and maritime allowance and three hundred and fifty dollars for hardship allowance. When he was asked on July tenth about the incident involving Makin and Melendez, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams explained that Makin was informed that the suspects may have been armed, which required him to take out his own weapon. Williams also said that Melendez resisted kneeling on the ground when he was ordered to do so, and that was when Makin hit him. The commissioner did say, however, that he did not condone Makin pistol-whipping Melendez because the weapon could have gone off and resulted in injury. Williams has since authorised the matter to be investigated by the Professional Standards Branch, upon request from Melendez, who had indicated from the start that he was not one of the men chasing the minor.