Five Americans were arrested earlier this week after getting into a physical altercation with cruise ship passengers at a Bahamas port and then causing a melee at a police station after they were arrested. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE
June 11 (UPI) — Police in the Bahamas arrested five U.S. nationals at a port after an altercation with cruise passengers and law enforcement earlier this week.
The five people were involved in a physical altercation on Monday with passengers on a cruise ship in the Nassau Cruise Port area and, after they were arrested, started a second altercation with police officers, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a news release.
Four police officers were injured in the second melee, with one hospitalized with a “serious injury” to his left shoulder.
One person who informed police about the initial altercation with the ship’s passengers was asked to come to the police station to give a statement but declined the interview, police said.
“Due time constraints related to their cruise ship’s scheduled departure, the complainants were unable to provide official statements,” the RBPF said in the release.
“Nevertheless, the five suspects remain in police custody and are being investigated in connection” with the initial altercation and the violence while they were being arrested, the police force said.
Law enforcement was called when the five people — three women and two men — got into some type of altercation with passengers from a cruise ship that was in port, with officers intervening in the scene and detaining them.
At the police station, while searching the five suspects, a “violent struggle” started between the officers and suspects — one of the women reportedly threw a chair through a glass door and one of the men then kicked out the rest of the glass before trying to escape.
During the confrontation, two officers were hit in the body, a third was cut near the mouth and a fourth officer’s shoulder was seriously injured, the RBPF said.
The five Americans remain in police custody on charges of assaulting a police officer, fighting in a public place, resisting arrest, malicious damage and disorderly behavior in a police station.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) arena is seen as preparations continue for the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
