Veteran Customs Officer dies in police custody: family alleges negligence

The family of twenty eight year old customs officer, Mathias Duran, is outraged at Orange Walk Police over his death while in police custody.  Duran died while being transported to the Orange Walk Police Station in the wee hours of Sunday morning.  

Duran was reportedly engaged in a confrontation at Hi 5 Club on Aurora Street.  By their own admission, police say that Duran was never arrested and was not going to be.  But something went eerily wrong on Main Street. 

While Orange Walk Police are contending that Duran jumped out of the pan of the police pickup, his family says that is absurd to even suggest, especially since Duran was born with a hip imperfection which limited his movements.  The Duran family are going further by alleging that it was sheer negligence, at least, that led to Duran’s untimely demise.  They base their argument on several points – one, the violation of traffic laws which prohibit transporting people in the pan of a vehicle; two, that because Duran had been drinking, he should have been offered to ride in the passenger seat; and that speeding was quite likely a factor in the death.  While the Orange Walk police chief, Superintendent Joseph Myvette has publicly denied that allegation, Duran’s sister Atiliana has said that an eyewitness mentioned to the family that after the police vehicle crossed the pedestrian ramp it sped off, and that was the same time Duran fell out.

 But Duran was not the only detainee in the vehicle.  He and the other two persons with whom he was involved in the brawl, including a police corporal, were also being taken to the station.  The customs officer had agreed to be taken to the police station because officers told him it was just to allow him to ”sober up”.  The post mortem certified that he died from a fractured skull as a result of a blow to the head. 

As the Duran family lay their loved one to rest on Wednesday, they are also taking steps to file a law suit against the police for Mathias Duran’s death.  And while two senior officers from other jurisdictions have been assigned to investigate the circumstances of Duran’s death, there is not much police can offer at present, other than to say that transporting people in the pan of pickups is a practice the Department has been carrying on for years.

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