NASSAU- In the eighties, a police corporal who shot an unarmed man in the line of duty was jailed for attempted murder.
On January 4, 1986, Corporal Leslie Bowe headed a team of four officers who were on patrol in Cutlass Bay, Cat Island.
They were on an operation aimed at disrupting drug activity.
While on patrol, the officers encountered Herbert Mackey. The officers alleged that they had information that Mackey was in possession of drugs and firearms.
Nonetheless, Mackey was unarmed. Despite this, the officers ordered Mackey into their bus, which they drove half a mile down a track road before coming to a stop.
The officers alleged that Mackey had directed them there to show them where another man had hidden drugs.
While some distance away from the bus, Bowe shot Mackey in the face.
As a result, he suffered a laceration of the nostril, lost his right eyeball and massive destruction of the right frontal and parietal lobes of the brain.
The medical evidence suggested that the gun was placed at Mackey’s nose or within a foot of it before it was fired.
By contrast, Bowe claimed that Mackey tried to escape and he pursued him.
During the chase, Bowe alleged that Mackey took a shining object from his pocket and charged at him.
Bowe claimed that he dropped to his left knee, pulled his revolver from his waist and fired at random.
A jury convicted Bowe of attempted murder and he was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.
Bowe filed an appeal against his sentence, which was dismissed on February 19, 1988.
Before the shooting, Bowe had worked in a sensitive area of the police force with distinction.
