
Posted: Wednesday, January 15, 2025. 8:16 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: He was due to return to court on March 6, but 34-year-old Harrison Sutherland of Belize City officially learned on Tuesday that he faces no further action on a charge of “Carried article or load on bicycle” contrary to the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act.
Commissioner of Police Chester Williams acted on his commitment to deal with the matter, sending an officer to escort Sutherland to the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on Monday to request withdrawal. However, in the absence of the sitting Magistrate who had dealt with the matter, the officer who appeared in court to execute the Commissioner’s order was told to return with Sutherland on Tuesday.
Sutherland appeared in person on his own and was formally told that the prosecution is not offering any evidence against him. So the matter was struck out for want of Prosecution and he was told that he need not return to court on the matter.
Sutherland told our court reporter, “The ComPol made a point, he did the right thing, how will you crucify somebody for an everyday thing? It’s an offense but for a plastic bottle that has no danger to the public. So you’re trying to explain that the plastic- so the gas tank you all are riding with, the zinc, the pint bottle, so those aren’t danger? So the plastic bottle is a danger?”
He added that “I would think twice now because see, I was just helping out an old lady and I get crucified for that. I’m not into helping out other people again. It’s like what you said, the good suffer for the bad.”
Sutherland, whose claim to fame was as a source of comic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, had said in his Friday interview that he was stopped on Queen Street while carrying a five-gallon water bottle on behalf of an elder, and was locked up for 12 hours until he got police bail last week Thursday; he attended court on Friday.
On Monday, Commissioner Williams said the charges being withdrawn is the right thing to do and explained what he feels the law encompasses and envisions: “The issue with Harrison Sutherland is one, again, that outrages the public. While I can say categorically that I do not act on public outrage, I act based on what is reasonable and just. While there is a law that says you are not supposed to carry load on a bicycle that disallows you from being properly able to maneuver the bicycle, that law does not contemplate a five-gallon bottle of water, or grocery bags you go to the grocery store and buy and have to come riding on your bicycle with those items on your bike.”
He continued, “Even in the absence of the good gesture that Sutherland was performing, to arrest a person for carrying a five-gallon water on a bicycle is not reasonable and I think we as police officers have to apply best judgment. I am not going to ridicule the police [officer]; he was doing his job, but he would have been best served if he had sought advice on the matter before proceeding with the charge… The law itself, as I said to my commanders this morning, would deal with those persons you see carry a fridge, a chest of drawers, maybe lumber, large pieces of lumber extending out and impeding traffic.”
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The post Charges dropped against Harrison Sutherland for carrying unbalanced load on bicycle appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Wednesday, January 15, 2025. 8:16 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: He was due to return to court on March 6, but 34-year-old Harrison Sutherland of
The post Charges dropped against Harrison Sutherland for carrying unbalanced load on bicycle appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.