Photo: Shamar Foster
High Court awards tour guide $25,000 in damages for illegal and unreasonable search by police
by Marco Lopez
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Nov. 1, 2024
Today, the High Court of Belize handed down its judgment in the case of tour guide, Shamar Foster v the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General. High Court Judge, Martha Alexander ruled that the claimant’s constitutional rights enshrined in sections 3, 6, 9, and 12 were all breached following an unlawful and illegal search conducted by Police Constable Albert Martinez on April 1, 2022, at the Belize City Municipal Airport.
Foster, who was 19 years old at the time, was working as a tour guide, awaiting a 5:30 flight at the municipal airport with a group of 18 tourists.
Reports from Foster’s evidence and an eyewitness on the scene are that Constable Martinez approached the claimant and ordered him to stand up to be searched. Foster then asked the officer the reason for the search, and Constable Martinez, according to the judgement, responded by ridiculing and taunting him without giving any reason for the search.
At this point Foster took out his cell phone and began recording. This, according to the judgement, “enraged” Martinez.
Video evidence shows Martinez striking Foster’s arm, causing the phone to fall to the ground. The illegal search was conducted, and nothing incriminating was found on Foster’s person. No arrests were made.
According to affidavits from Martinez and from Corporal Chun, another officer who was on the scene, they had received information of a suspicious person dressed in a white T-Shirt and red pants. Foster, who fit the description, was approached, according to the officers. Martinez claimed that Foster said “he could not be searched,” and began resisting arrest, “pushing away Constable Martinez.”
According to the judgement, a complaint was filed to the Professional Standards Branch (PSB), but the claimant was not informed about the progress of that investigation. He was called to give evidence in a proceeding against Corporal Chun, but that hearing was cancelled.
The PSB claimed that it had invited Foster to participate in the disciplinary proceedings, but he did not make himself available. While the PSB brought a “battery of police witnesses” to corroborate their evidence, they all failed to prove the claim that Foster chose not to attend the hearing.
The High Court, in its decision found that the search of Foster was done unlawfully, disproportionately, and was more than statutory authority. The court also declared that preventing the claimant from recording is a breach of his constitutional rights to protection under the law and freedom of expression.
The court also found that Foster was entitled to damages. A total of $25,000 in damages was awarded – $5,000 in compensatory damages, and $20,000 in vindicatory damages.
