Exclusive: ‘Police Dragged My Son Through Paceville In His Boxers’
A Maltese mother has spoken out about a recent case of alleged excessive police force against her son when he was out partying in Paceville.
Alison Gatt spoke to Lovin Malta about the details behind the case that eventually resulted in her son Tariq Singgate Walls, a 21-year-old former US Navy Officer trainee who now lives in Malta, getting charged for biting a police sergeant.
She recounted how she grew concerned when her son didn’t return home by 1am.
“I woke up at 1am and he hadn’t come home yet; he doesn’t go out much so it wasn’t normal,” she said. “I stayed up till 4-5am and heard nothing, I went to work at 8am and called up Mater Dei but they told me my son wasn’t there. I obviously started panicking and my friend’s son messaged a couple of people who were with Tariq that night.”
“At around 11am, my friend got back to me and told me my son had been arrested.”
Alison contacted the police and eventually got to speak to her son.
She said that Tariq told him the incident started when he and his friend were walking out of a nightclub and almost fell on the way out. He said a nightclub bouncer pushed his son and made a racial slur. She said Tariq then swore at him and pushed him back, and the bouncer dropped him to the floor outside the nightclub, knelt down on his neck and told him he would “effing kill him”.
Alison said that six police officers then turned up to manage the situation but used excessive force against her son.
“My son is 6’1 but he only weighs 57kg and he was soaking wet. One of the officers put him in a chokehold and my son bit his elbow because he couldn’t breathe. The officers then grabbed him and dragged him on the ground to the police van outside Burger King.”
During the commotion, Tariq’s trousers had fallen off and police dragged him to the van in his boxers.
Footage of the bouncer
Alison stated that after police officers forced her son into the van, their body cams went dark, but the sounds of beating and Tariq pleading with them to stop touching him could still be heard.
Although initial reports described Tariq as “an unemployed 21-year-old American”, Alison pointed out that he had only been fired from his job five days before the incident.
“He had a residence permit until he turned 21 and his company was supposed to file a single permit for him because he couldn’t renew his ID otherwise. Multiple reminders were sent but it never happened, and five days before all this went down they fired him for no reason.”
Tariq was charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and slightly injuring another man, and was held in prison for almost a month. He pleaded guilty this morning to avoid a harsher sentence, and was fined €6,000 and placed on probation for three years.
However, Alison is looking into legal avenues and is considering opening a civil lawsuit.
Lovin Malta has reached out to the police to ask for their version of events.
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