Angry mob, cops square off downtown

Chad Bryan, Star Writer



This man wipes his hand into the blood from CD vendor Justin Bonfield, who was reportedly hit with a stone in his head allegedly by onlookers after police tried to arrest him in downtown Kingston yesterday. - Jermaine Barnaby


Chaos ensued on Orange Street, downtown Kingston, yesterday as police squared off with an angry mob over the apprehension and injuring of a CD vendor.


People hurled stones at the police when Justin Bonfield, 32, was detained in an incident which began inside the Queens Market at the intersection of Heywood and Princess streets and culminated on Orange Street.


hurling stones


One female witness claimed the police entered the market and handcuffed Bonfield, which prompted civilians to start hurling stones.


"Police fight him and draw him out of the market and three of them hold on to him and put on two handcuffs and carried him over there so," the woman said, pointing to an area on Orange Street where a pool of blood was visible.


"The policeman directly pushed him in the [path of the] stone and made the stone chop out his head and let him go to drop on the ground for dead," she continued, while another witness agreed.


A number of other witnesses alleged that the man had been shot by the police.


The police, however, in an attempt to calm the irate crowd, explained that no shots were fired and that it was a stone that had hit Bonfield.


They further stated that Bonfield had been apprehended because he was vending in an area not designated for such activities.


He was subsequently rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital by the police. Up to press time, his condition remained unknown.



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