BRIAN PAQUETTE, the Police Constable who was reportedly shot in the line of duty with his own service pistol, has died in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Deputy Commissioner of Police Hilroy Brandy, said that the young Constable died this morning (Jul. 18).Paquette had had his left leg amputated during surgery as a result of him being shot in that leg allegedly with his own service pistol, in the early morning hours of Thursday, June 23, 2016.
Initial reports were that at about 1:00 a.m. on the day in question, while Constable Paquette and another rank had responded to a report of larceny in the Greenlands area, they had stopped an individual of interest in Prickle Pear Alley and decided to conduct a search of his person.
During the search, the officers reportedly found that the man had a knife in his possession and they decided to take him into custody. However, a struggle ensured among the three of them and the man allegedly grabbed Paquette’s service pistol from which a round was discharged during the process and struck him in his left leg.
It was learnt that the other officer subdued the individual, whose name was given as Evron Williams, and he was taken into custody at the Basseterre Police Station and later charged with attempting to make use of a firearm with intent to prevent lawful apprehension of himself.
According to an SKNVIBES report the officer had made several calls to get a unit from the Emergency Medical Services to take the injured Constable, who was bleeding profusely, to the JNF Hospital, but they were all futile. A police patrol vehicle had however responded and took him to the medical institution.
SKNVibes had learnt that Williams did not shoot Paquette, but his fellow officer did. This was confirmed by the contents of the release even though it lacked certain information. Constable Paquette was at the JNF Hospital for approximately four days before he was flown out to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital in Trinidad for advance medical treatment, where his left leg was amputated.
According to Paquette’s uncle, Austin Harris, as reported by The Observer, in addition to losing his leg, his nephew’s liver was failing.