Social media users applauded Macaulay residents yesterday, after videos surfaced of them apprehending and dealing a dose of vigilante justice to a man they believed to be a truck thief.
However, when officers of the St Margaret’s Police Station were notified, it came to light that the man was actually innocent.
The videos, showing a man seated on the side of the road with his hands and feet bound by tie-straps and being slapped and hit by a group of men surrounding him, were uploaded to Facebook and WhatsApp yesterday. The videos quickly went viral, with many users praising the group for their actions.
But investigations later revealed there was another ‘owner’ of the vehicle who had sent the captured man and another man to collect the truck, which he believed was stolen.
According to reports, the saga began over a year ago when the original owner of the vehicle, a dump truck, sold it to two different men. The first buyer is from Barrackpore and had no idea that his truck was sold to another man in Claxton Bay. The Barrackpore man even reported the truck stolen to police in 2016.
The Claxton Bay owner, who also paid for the truck, decided to put it up for sale recently and two men came forward yesterday, asking that one of them be allowed to test drive the vehicle. The pair arrived in a silver Lancer sedan and the passenger went to test drive the vehicle while the other man drove off.
When the Claxton Bay owner and the first man went to test drive the vehicle, the owner came out of the truck and the man drove off with it.
Angry residents, unaware that the Barrackpore owner had actually sent these men to retrieve his truck, captured the second man and beat him.
The beaten man was taken for medical attention yesterday.
Cpl Brian Singh is continuing investigations. —Sharlene Rampersad
