BELVEDERE--St. Maarten Police Force KPSM officers arrested a man S.L. at the Belvedere/French Quarter border around 1:00pm Wednesday for failing to comply with police orders.
- and his father, both of whom are French-side residents, attempted to cross the border without having the correct waiver documents.
According to the police, officers informed both men that they required signed waivers from Dutch-side authorities before they could be allowed to cross the border. This applies even when the persons wanting to cross are French-side residents, said police.
After officers told L. several times that he and his father could not cross, regardless of their being residents of French Quarter, he began to act aggressively towards the French and Dutch law enforcement personnel manning the border.
Officers ordered him to stop acting in an aggressive manner and to leave the area. However, he refused to do so, said police.
“To avoid that the situation would escalate further, officers on location decided to arrest S.L.,” said police in a press release on Wednesday.
According to police, L. resisted his arrest, but was later handcuffed. “During the arrest, [neither – Ed.] S.L. nor his father were injured,” said police.
- was then taken to the Philipsburg police station. After police took a statement from him, he was given a summons to appear in court and was released.
Reports circulated after the incident that the father had been struck three times in his chest by police officers.
Despite repeated attempts to contact the son and his father on Wednesday and Thursday, The Daily Herald could not reach them for comment up to press time Thursday night.
