Commentary: Calls to punish the TCI police for the Haitian boat tragedy are premature, if not unwarranted
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| Published on Saturday, May 12, 2007 |
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By Anthony L. Hall
Evidently, many readers inferred from one sentence in yesterday’s 12-paragraph commentary - entitled The tragedy of being Haitian at home and at sea – that I think TCI police committed a crime for which they must be prosecuted, and for which their government must pay…“millions”. Therefore, I beg all readers who emailed enquiries to this effect, and others who may be harbouring this inference, to please be advised as follows:
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Anthony L. Hall is a descendant
of the Turks & Caicos Islands,
international lawyer and political
consultant - headquartered in
Washington DC - who publishes
his own weblog, The iPINIONS
Journal, at http://ipjn.com
offering commentaries on
current events from a
Caribbean perspective
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The only declaration I made in this respect is that “the TCI government must accept strict liability for this tragedy.” And no one who understands the duty of care the TCI police owed the Haitians they were attempting to interdict will dispute this fact.
Nevertheless, I’m obliged to disabuse anyone of any notion that strict liability means that the police must be guilty of either “criminal negligence” or “intentional murder”. Because I used these terms only to convey the legal implications of news reports which cited the police and survivors giving conflicting (i.e. disputed) accounts of what happened.
Whereas, punishment (if any) for the police and compensation (if compulsory) for the aggrieved will depend entirely upon what proves to be the most sustainable account of how this incident unfolded. And that account can only be established by an official investigation; which is why I referenced the independent (British) investigators who have already been dispatched to conduct one.
After all, notwithstanding news reports, the investigators may find that the police exercised reasonable care in attempting to interdict the Haitians. And they may conclude that - since the police were executing their duties in stormy weather, which produced extremely rough seas – an act of God, not the negligence of the TCI police, was the proximate cause of their boat getting rammed and eventually capsizing.
For the record, I think claims by Haitian survivors, which imply that the TCI police committed intentional murder, are farfetched and will prove unsustainable. However, I suspect questions about how prepared the police were to deal with this tragedy may well lead to findings of rank incompetence, if not gross negligence. But I urge all of you to wait for the official report before calling for the police involved to be arrested and demanding that the TCI government pay for the wrongful-death of the Haitians who perished.
Meanwhile, regardless of the findings of fact, I have no doubt that the government will accept ultimate responsibility for this tragedy, and make an appropriate offer (voluntarily) to compensate the affected families – not only for their loss, but also to help them cope with their grief.
NOTE: Simmering (and growing) international outrage against the TCI police is such that it behooves the government to issue a statement (through international media) expressing regret for this tragedy, offering condolences to the grieving families, and vowing to cooperate fully with the British-led investigation. After all, given the fact that the livelihood of TCIanders is so utterly dependent on courting international goodwill, such an unambiguous statement is not only imperative; it’s long-overdue.
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