By Denise Maycock, Tribune Freeport Reporter
Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) Commissioner Shanta Knowles confirmed in an exclusive press briefing yesterday that a uniformed officer attached to the Exuma Division, whose involvement in a widely shared physical altercation at a local Exuma bar last month spread rapidly across social media platforms, has not been placed on administrative leave, as formal probes into the full context of the incident remain ongoing.
The viral clip, which has amassed tens of thousands of views across local community Facebook groups and messaging apps, captures a plainclothes individual later confirmed to be the serving police officer engaged in a physical scuffle with a male civilian, with both parties grappling at each other’s shirts before the officer delivers multiple strikes to the other man, as surrounding bystanders rush in to separate the pair. Initial public reactions to the unedited, partial footage prompted widespread calls for the officer to be immediately suspended pending a full review of his conduct.
Commissioner Knowles clarified that the decision to keep the officer on active duty follows standard RBPF protocol, as the dedicated Complaints and Corruption Unit has not yet finalized its evidence-gathering process or submitted a formal case file to senior leadership for disciplinary review. She noted that preliminary witness statements provided to investigators indicate the officer was acting at the request of a local member of the public to intervene in an escalating disturbance at the venue, though the full sequence of events leading up to the physical confrontation is still being cross-verified.
“At this stage, no administrative leave order has been issued, because our Complaints and Corruption Unit team is still methodically working through every detail of this case,” Commissioner Knowles stated when pressed for further updates on the probe. “Too often, members of the public only see the final seconds of a tense, high-stakes situation captured on a random phone recording, and rush to pass judgment on an officer who may have stepped in to de-escalate a volatile scenario at a citizen’s request. That is exactly what preliminary accounts tell us happened here, but we owe it to everyone involved — the officer, the civilian parties, and the broader Exuma community — to conduct a full, fair investigation before drawing any conclusions.”
Two civilians connected to the bar altercation have already been taken into official custody and formally charged in relation to the incident, the commissioner confirmed. The RBPF reaffirmed its longstanding public commitment to upholding the highest standards of professional conduct, accountability, and ethical practice across all ranks, noting that any individual — whether serving officer or civilian — found to have violated force policies or broken national law will face appropriate, consistent disciplinary or legal action.
This ongoing Exuma investigation marks the second high-profile public probe into a police officer filmed in a physical altercation in recent months. Back in August, Commissioner Knowles announced that a different officer, accused of slapping a civilian attendee during a July Bahamas National Basketball Team match, was facing formal proceedings before the Police Tribunal — an internal disciplinary body operating with similar judicial procedures to a local magistrate’s court, whose full final rulings will be released publicly once the case concludes.