Santo Domingo — The demand for justice for deaths involving National Police officers once again took to the streets yesterday. Two weeks after the death of young Darlyn Mercado, protests have intensified again, demanding answers in other cases.

With a coffin in front of the police station in San Cristóbal and a demonstration outside the Prosecutor’s Office of Santo Domingo East, relatives of Miguel Antonio Lucas Paredes and Rawel Sierra demanded the clarification of their deaths, in which they link the uniformed officers.

According to his relatives, Miguel was arrested last Wednesday, July 8, by a captain assigned to the Central Directorate of Intelligence (Dintel), allegedly without a court order, in the San Cristóbal Sector, for the illegal sale of lottery numbers. 

After the arrest, he was taken to the detachment of sector 17 of San Cristóbal, where he remained in custody until the morning of Monday, the 13th.

According to the account, after the days he was detained, he told the officers that he felt sick and that he had been beaten inside the station, without, they maintain, receiving medical attention. 

When he was handed over to his family, he was in a delicate state of health, so he was transferred to the Juan Pablo Pina Regional Teaching Hospital, where he died.

National Police spokesman Diego Pesqueira reported that the institution is awaiting the autopsy results to determine the cause of Miguel‘s death and stated that the investigations are based on the evidence. 

He explained that the preliminary report indicates that the man was arrested in the act of committing a crime and subsequently released.

He indicated that his medical condition arose after he left the police force.

Eastern Breezes

It has been 25 days since Rawel Sierra, an 18-year-old with autism, left his house intending to buy a hamburger, and was hit by a bullet in the head, allegedly by a police officer, during a protest over a series of blackouts in the Brisas del Este sector, Santo Domingo East.

With banners reading “Police don’t kill me,” family members gathered in front of the Santo Domingo East Prosecutor’s Office to demand that the officer who, they claim, shot and killed them be identified and brought to justice.

They complained that, despite the time that has passed, the authorities have not informed them about any concrete progress in the investigation.