A key witness has stepped forward to dispute the official police account that Washington Bramble evaded law enforcement custody during a recent hospital stay, throwing into question the professionalism of Antigua and Barbuda’s security forces just weeks ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) hosted by the island nation. The witness, a woman whose own son was undergoing emergency surgery at the same hospital the night Bramble was being treated, gave a detailed account that directly contradicts claims that Bramble attempted to hide from arresting officers.
According to the woman’s testimony, law enforcement officials never maintained a constant guard over Bramble, even after she was taken into custody for an outstanding warrant. She told reporters that the entire police detail assigned to monitor Bramble left the hospital premises well before 1 a.m., leaving Bramble openly seated in a public area near the emergency department, where she remained in full view of hospital staff, security guards, and other visitors long after the officers departed. The witness confirmed that she was speaking with Bramble in this public seating area after 2 a.m., more than an hour after the last police vehicle had left the facility.
“She was not hiding. She sat in the view of everyone right on a chair beside the security guard,” the woman explained, adding that Bramble was at the time receiving intravenous medication and treatment for her reported illness. The witness also noted that only one officer approached Bramble during the entire police visit, and that this officer openly questioned whether Bramble was genuinely sick, accusing her of faking illness to avoid custody.
The witness’s account comes in the wake of Bramble’s dramatic removal from a live televised public town hall meeting focused on Antigua and Barbuda’s preparations to host CHOGM, a high-profile international gathering that will bring scores of foreign leaders and delegates to the country. She has raised sharp criticism of how law enforcement handled the entire situation, from the hospital monitoring to the removal of Bramble during the live broadcast. She described the officers’ actions as unnecessarily aggressive, unprofessional, and even ruthless, arguing that officials could have handled the situation far more discreetly rather than arresting Bramble in front of a global live television audience.
The woman also questioned multiple aspects of the official handling of the case, including why law enforcement failed to arrest Bramble sooner if she had been a wanted person with an active bench warrant. During the town hall, Bramble had raised a question that went unanswered after a minister instructed other officials not to respond to her, due to an earlier controversial text message Bramble had allegedly sent. Most pointedly, the witness questioned whether the unprofessional conduct displayed by officers in this incident calls into question their ability to provide adequate security for international delegates during the upcoming CHOGM summit.
“If the officers don’t have the dignity to protect and treat their own with proper respect and dignity and know how to handle situations differently, then how can they protect visitors?” she asked.
To date, none of the woman’s allegations regarding Bramble’s hospital stay, the circumstances of her arrest, or the conduct of law enforcement officers have been independently verified by third-party sources. Her testimony, however, has reignited public debate over the timeline of police involvement at the hospital, the legitimacy of claims that Bramble evaded custody, and the preparedness of Antigua and Barbuda’s security forces for one of the largest international events the country has ever hosted.