PHILIPSBURG--A 43-year-old diabetic and hypertensive patient is concerned about her health after she was grazed on her upper thigh by a stray bullet during the fatal shooting of Police Officer Gamali "Benji" Benjamin on Front Street on Wednesday, August 5.
Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Karola van Nie, when asked by this newspaper on Sunday, said she was unaware whether any civilians had been injured during the shooting incident. However, she said anyone who had been injured should file a report at the police station.
The woman's close friend and guardian when she was a child, trade unionist Claire Elshot, told The Daily Herald the woman, who works as a store attendant, had been in her place of employment, Happy Store souvenir shop, located a few stores away from where the fatal shooting took place, when she was injured by the stray bullet.
Elshot, who extended her deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Benjamin, who passed away on Saturday, said the woman had been in the store when she had heard screaming and shouts of "thief, thief" and had seen people running all over, including toward the store.
She reacted by going to the entrance of the store to close the shutter. As she approached the entrance of the store and placed one foot partially out of the store to reach the button to close the shutter, she felt a burning sensation on her upper thigh, which began to bleed.
Elshot said it appeared as though the bullet had hit an iron bar at the store's entrance and ricocheted back, grazing her leg. Her blood pressure immediately went up. The bullet casing subsequently was found just in front of the store and tagged by police during their investigations.
The injured woman was tended to by ambulance personnel on the scene. She was told that her blood pressure was high and was informed that while under normal circumstances, being a diabetic, she should have been rushed to St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) for medical attention, it made no sense to do so then as SMMC's Emergency Room was full at the time because Benjamin and one of the robbers had been transported there for emergency medical attention.
Elshot said that, given the circumstances, the robber should have been "the last one to get tended to in the ER."
"This is sad, because the children of this woman could have gotten different news," Elshot said, adding that the father of the children had passed away just months ago in December.
The woman monitored her condition. The following morning, the area where she had been grazed by the bullet was swollen. She went to her house doctor and learnt that the wound was already infected. She was sent to have blood tests and given numerous medications.
Elshot said that while a bullet graze might not pose a medical risk for a normal person, it was very risky for a diabetic, as wounds in persons who are diabetic take very long to heal, if they ever do heal. "The wound already got infected and if it doesn't heal it will continue to be a threat to her," Elshot said.
She said her concern in this situation was that there had been a street full of persons who had been at risk during the shooting and in this case the woman had been in her store when she was injured. Elshot said too that the location of the wound on the woman's upper thigh was a big concern, because if the wound did not heal, but became worse and her leg had to be amputated, she would lose her entire leg.
"This is a very sad situation. It caused a rude awakening and it made her have sleepless nights. She is very concerned about her health and her leg because of her being diabetic," Elshot said.
