2 Grenada officers charged in death of Toronto man
CBC News
Posted: Dec 31, 2011 1:14 PM ET
Last Updated: Dec 31, 2011 3:37 PM ET
A second autopsy began Saturday for Oscar Bartholomew, seen in this undated photo. Bartholomew died Tuesday in Grenada. (Courtesy Bartholomew family)
The Royal Grenada police force has charged two of its officers with manslaughter in the death of a Toronto man.
Oscar Bartholomew died in Grenada on Tuesday, several hours after he was taken into police custody.
Kenton Hazzard and Wendell Sylvester, both with the St. David's Police Station, have been charged.
They, along with three other officers, were detained Thursday for questioning.
Relatives had accused police of beating Bartholomew into a coma after he allegedly mistook a plainclothes female police officer for a friend and lifted her off the ground in a hug while in front of a police station.
The family's lawyer, Derick Sylvester, said an eyewitness came forward Friday and told police Oscar Bartholomew was bound and beaten by five officers.
Sylvester said an independent autopsy found that Bartholomew died of trauma to the head as well as multiple injuries to the body. A state autopsy report came to similar but less detailed conclusions.
The 39-year-old Grenadian-born man had lived in Toronto for the past 10 years and was visiting family in Grenada for the holidays.
Relatives say he stopped at the station in the southwestern part of the island because his wife needed to use the restroom.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
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