An unprovoked chopping incident left one man hospitalized on Valentine’s Day weekend while a responding officer, who came under attack himself, was lucky to escape unharmed. According to police, on Saturday, February 13, 2021, they made their way to Marine Parade to respond to reports of a chopping. 22-year-old Akeem Patterson was seen with a cut wound to his head and reported to the officers that he was attacked by Francis Ramos. Ramos, who has no fixed address, further attempted to attack one of the officers with his machete but that officer was quick on his feet. He managed not only to dodge Ramos’s attack but withdrew his weapon and fire a shot which caught Ramos to the foot.
For his injuries, Ramos was hospitalized under police guard and has since been released into police custody and arraigned on a charge of aggravated assault with a machete upon Harold Garbutt, the officer. He appeared before Senior Magistrate Stephanie Gillett and pleaded not guilty to the charge. He was offered bail in the sum of $2,000 plus one surety of the same. Unfortunately, he was not able to meet bail and was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until April 22, 2021.
In court, he was not levied charges in connection to the incident against Patterson. It appears that he has not yet requested court action.
