What Really Happened To Daniel Smith? 9-21-06
There was confusion surrounding the death from the start, with one report saying the boy was found sitting upright in a chair, another saying he was found laying on his back in a hospital bed, and yet another saying he was vomiting before he died. …………….
Quick to dismiss that line of thinking was Reginald Ferguson, the assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Ferguson 's comments satisfied the international media, but did little to assuage the suspicions of Bahamians, who have little confidence in their national police force.
The force is notoriously riddled with corruption. An alarmingly high percentage of crimes are perpetrated by former, off-duty and even on-duty officers. The Bahamas police have also been condemned by Amnesty International for numerous extra-judicial killings. Bahamians privately state that complaints of abusive officers routinely fall on deaf ears. To my knowledge, no Bahamian police officer has ever been sent to jail in the past five years, despite hundreds of valid complaints "investigated" during that time. There are even a few senior police officers, I have been told, that can not travel to the United States because of outstanding warrants or extradition requests. ……………..
Contradictions in the ever-changing story, Coroner Virgill's cryptic comments, the delayed - now cancelled inquest... all seem to indicate a typical cover-up of sorts by the Bahamas government, in an effort to protect somebody.
But who?
Then, came a bombshell. The Tribune newspaper, the most credible source of information in The Bahamas, weighed in with new and detailed information Bahamians could trust. Managed by a foreigner with a disdain for Bahamian corruption, the well-respected paper reported that "20 year-old Daniel Wayne Smith, had been dead 'for some time' before hospital officials were called in to perform advanced life saving procedures."
I have my eye on this character as well. I read the article that you linked right after ANS's death. Ferguson also appears in articles regarding the airport workers that are involved in the drug smuggling cases from the Bahamas to the US.
The force is notoriously riddled with corruption. An alarmingly high percentage of crimes are perpetrated by former, off-duty and even on-duty officers. The Bahamas police have also been condemned by Amnesty International for numerous extra-judicial killings. Bahamians privately state that complaints of abusive officers routinely fall on deaf ears. To my knowledge, no Bahamian police officer has ever been sent to jail in the past five years, despite hundreds of valid complaints "investigated" during that time. There are even a few senior police officers, I have been told, that can not travel to the United States because of outstanding warrants or extradition requests.
Getting confused here, what inquest has been canceled ?
Sentencing Dates Set For Baggage Handlers After Guilty Pleas
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Cynthia Pratt said at one point that if the men committed a crime in the Bahamas they should be tried here, but Assistant Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson said local police did not have enough evidence to arrest the baggage handlers.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson has confirmed that there has been communication to the police possibly calling for an investigation into allegations that Immigration Minister Shane Gibson received what amounted to a bribe from American celebrity Anna Nicole Smith.
PLP Takes Exception To Former Minister’s Claims Regarding Police Restructuring
According to officials close to the police force, the three police officers scheduled to be reassigned are Central Detective Unit Superintendent Marvin Dames, Assistant Police Commissioner with responsibility for crime Reginald Ferguson and Officer-In-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Unit Superintendent Raymond Gibson.
Greenslade transfer confirmed but new post remains uncertain