1963 Rastafarians Rebellion Coral Gardens, Montego Bay Jamaica

8 Killed and Hundreds Injured. an Eye Witness Account

Selbourne Reid, the author of this book is a retired Detective Inspector of Police. He was a member of the Rifle Squad which travelled in front with Inspector Fisher who led the charge in the operation against the Rastafarians. He saw a man chopped and killed within three to five (3ft-5ft) feet of where he was standing. When he turned around to run from the scene he observed that one of his co-workers who was standing behind him was already seriously wounded and was bleeding from a machete wound he received across the back of his neck and shoulder. That indicated that a Killer Rasta-man had passed behind him and chopped his co-worker. Selbourne ran from the scene of terror as there was no ammunition in his rifle and escaped unscratched. He credits his escape to Gods Divine Intervention on his behalf. Fisher had refused to issue the ammunition to his men. He apparently was hoping to hand over command to Superintendent Jimmy Ricketts who ordered the reinforcement to meet him at the scene but could not be found when he Fisher and his men arrived. He was seriously wounded but was saved by a brave corporal who got a round of ammunition from him, quickly loaded a rifle and shot the Rasta-man who was in the act of killing Fisher while he was on the ground. There is a lot of humor in this book. For example; Inspector Fisher rhetorically asked Where is Jimmy on most of the occasions when he was requested to issue the ammunition to his men so many people after learning of what transpired, wondered if Fisher was saying where is Jimmy where is Jimmy even when he was being chopped in his head by a Rasta- man. Ethical principles and a lesson to public officials in the social services and other public offices are included in this book. For example The Foster Mother applicant who prepared herself to grant sexual favors because she felt that such action would guarantee success in her application to become a Foster Mother for her nephew.

Selbourne graduated from the University of the West Indies with a BSc.degree in Public Administration. He migrated to the USA where he did further studies and was employed in New York and later Florida as Child Welfare Officer, Probation Officer and school teacher. He is also the Author of Rastafarian Uprising (2010) and Gods Miraculous Healing Power (2011) which are available at the following: amazon.com, target, Barns & Noble, wwiic.com. [email protected] xulopress.com, authorhouse.com.