Man Pleads for State Assistance to Cover Medical Bills as Police Investigation Continues into Traffic Stop Shooting

Shot by police at a traffic stop nearly two years ago, a 22-year-old man on Monday pleaded with the State for help to pay his medical bills while an internal investigation continues into the shooting that left him permanently incapacitated and in chronic pain.

Joshav Grant was never charged with any offence, not even for jumping a traffic light which led to him getting a bullet in the back. Some 21 months later, police have yet to complete their own probe.

Once a track athlete and ace basketballer with dreams of a scholarship and a sporting career, Grant now has to use a cane or wheelchair to get around and has been told he will be in pain and disabled for the rest of his life. In an interview with Barbados TODAY, he said he could not continue much longer relying on the goodwill of his aunt and his pension-dependent grandmother to sustain him.

He said: “On certain days, I have to use my wheelchair, all depending on the pain tolerance, or my walker or the cane, all depending on how bad the pain is. They got some days that my foot swell up big, big, big…can’t do anything, there is nothing you can really do with an injury like this because it is spontaneous too, and it is pain all throughout, no breaks, 24/7.

“[Queen Elizabeth Hospital doctors] did tell me it would be chronic back pain for the rest of my life. All now as we talk, it is pain.”

Flanked by attorneys Kyle Walkes and Neville Reid, Grant said he could not afford full physical therapy and his aunt could only help so much.

But the young man voiced particular frustration at the length of time it was taking the police to complete their probe after he was shot and injured in his lower back on January 7, 2022, during a traffic stop at White Hall, St Michael.

“Joshav was driving a vehicle with his girlfriend. He went through an amber light by the stop lights there and it quickly turned red. Police then turned on their siren,” Walkes said. “The only justification is that he didn’t stop immediately upon hearing the siren. He drove a little while before stopping.”

Grant exited the vehicle with empty hands. Seconds after, shots were fired. Three bullets passed through Grant’s vehicle. One struck him in the back.

For two weeks, Grant lay handcuffed in a hospital bed, still not charged with any offence, his lawyers said, until he developed bedsores.

It took the filing of a writ of habeas corpus in the High Court in order to get the police to remove the handcuffs from the bedridden Grant.

“While under arrest, the police kept him handcuffed to the bed that he was in… prevented him from receiving any visitors. He was not allowed to see any relatives until myself and Mr Reid filed what is called a habeas corpus application at the High Court, where the judge agreed with us that he was not under arrest and should not have been handcuffed to the bed and should be allowed to see his relatives.

“That was two weeks, so he was handcuffed to the bed in the hospital for two weeks and he developed bed sores for not being able to move. Coming out, he has never been charged with any criminal offence, not even the traffic violation [breaking the amber light] that was the reason why this thing happened in the first place. He assisted the police in all their investigations, gave multiple statements. The Commissioner of Police was informed by way of letter from us the same month of the incident, the Solicitor General’s Office was also informed. We sent two different letters informing them of the plight of Mr Grant,” Walkes said.

“They have not responded substantially to us in any way. They have acknowledged that we wrote them letters. They have never pushed the needle forward in any way by any sort of notable response. Twenty-two months later, we have still not been able to hear from the police on what the position is, whether the police officer was justifiable in using his firearm or he used it wrongfully.”

The attorney described it as a travesty that the young man was shot by police, left immobilised and unable to reproduce, and this “will continue to affect him for the rest of his life…unable to work and support himself“.

Grant had his eyes set on a career in basketball. He had already attended an NBA Jump Start Camp for elite youth prospects in Trinidad. But doctors said he will never play basketball again, according to attorney Walkes.

“Any hopes of scholarship or ability to play professionally overseas are dashed permanently. He was also a runner. So, that part of his life is now gone forever,” Grant’s attorney bemoaned.

Walkes also recalled that at the time of the incident, his client was scheduled to start working at a restaurant within days and that any chance to gain employment was also gone forever.

He disclosed that they have filed a separate civil suit against the State in the High Court, but explained that the case moving forward would depend on the outcome of the police internal investigations into the shooting.

When contacted, Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce, who was appointed on November 1, 2021, two months before the fateful traffic stop, told Barbados TODAY he would have to look into the matter.

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