In an early morning incident that has shocked local law enforcement circles, a 33-year-old serving traffic officer with Belize’s transport department has been taken into custody and formally charged with aggravated assault following a violent confrontation outside a popular Belize City nightclub. The event unfolded in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday on New Town Barracks, where the encounter between the off-duty officer and a local resident quickly escalated into a firearms threat.
According to official police reports, the complainant, 33-year-old Rodney Card, had just exited the nightclub and was making his way to his privately owned vehicle parked in an adjacent parking lot when he spotted two women engaged in a physical altercation. Stepping in to prevent the fight from growing more serious, Card attempted to calm the two parties and de-escalate the tension. It was at this point that Ignatius Peyrefitte, the 33-year-old traffic officer, approached Card and ordered him to stay out of the dispute.
Witnesses and official statements confirm that Peyrefitte then drew a loaded pistol from his waistband and cocked the weapon directly toward Card, a move that put Card in immediate fear for his life. Luckily for all parties involved, uniformed police officers were already patrolling the nearby area and responded to the disturbance within seconds. The responding officers quickly intervened to defuse the situation, disarmed Peyrefitte, and took him into custody without further incident.
Following standard processing procedures at the local police precinct, Peyrefitte was formally arrested and slapped with a single count of aggravated assault. As of the publication of this report on April 13, 2026, no additional information has been released regarding a potential court date, whether Peyrefitte has retained legal representation, or if he has been suspended from his official position with the Belize transport department pending the outcome of the case. Local community leaders have already called for a full internal review of the incident to determine if any departmental policy violations occurred, underscoring growing concerns about off-duty conduct among public safety officials in Belize City.