On Tuesday March 13th, 2018 the police patrol of the Basic Police Care on St. Eustatius escorted a funeral possession to the Salem Cemetery. Upon arrival at the cemetery I fight broke out. The fight was initially between two men with the initials D.M, 25 years of age and KR 28 years of age. During the brawl involving the two men, one of the men was stabbed. By standers who were attending the funeral intervene and broke up the brawl. The police arrested the man with initials K.R. that did the stabbing on the scene directly after the stabbing. The victim was taken to the Queen Beatrix Medical Centre, where the physician on duty attended to his wound. During the brawl innocent bystander who were standing close to the spot where the brawl broke out got either hit or pushed. The police on the scene were confronted with an enormous challenge at that moment because the hitting en pushing of innocent bystander led to more chaos as the family and friends of those innocent victims began fighting each other.
Police is soliciting the help of anyone in the public who may have information or witnessed the stabbing to come forward and give an account of how the brawl started that led to the stabbing and what exactly transpired. The number to call at the police station is +599 31823333.
Finally police have a concern that they will like to bring to the public’s attention. In situation where the safety of the public is concerned, if police give an order to vacate the area, those receiving the order to vacate are legally obligated to give immediately adherence to the orders of the police. Failure to comply can lead to the arrest and prosecution of individual not adhering to the orders given. This authority is derived from the Eilandverordening bevordering openbare orde en bescherming gemeenschap 1993.
