Father of police shooting victim Joshua Samaroo arrested over controversial remarks

Trinidad and Tobago: Joshua Samaroo’s father has been arrested by police officers at the St Clair Police station for controversial remarks he made during a radio talk show.

Christopher Samaroo, the father of police shooting victim Joshua Samaroo who died back in January 2026, was arrested by police on Monday, June 22, just hours after voluntarily visiting a police station to clarify comments he said had been misinterpreted and circulated on social media.

Samaroo went to the Police Station in Port of Spain to "clear up" what he described as misinformation, along with attorney Aaron Lewis, for the statements made during a radio talk show on Sunday.

Attorney Lewis confirmed that Samaroo was held under Regulation 11 of the Emergency Powers Regulations. He noted that Samaroo is expected to remain in custody for at least next 48 hours.

According to the reports, Samaroo’s home was raided by the police officers from the St Clair Police Station who had carried out a search of his La Seiva Road, Maraval home. They reportedly visited Samaroo's home on Monday while he was at the St Clair station in Port of Spain, to search for him in connection with the investigation. However, It was unclear up to last night, what officers had been searching for or if anything had been taken from Samaroo’s home.

Lewis stated that Samaroo was cautioned by senior officers before being detained and taken into custody in relation to alleged statements on the T&T Police Service in the media, which were broadcast on Sunday, online.

“My words were misconstrued,” Samaroo said in response to claims he made during a Father’s Day special on the Eye on Dependency programme, where he allegedly made the comment that subsequently got published across social media.

Samaroo arrived at the police station around 5:35 p.m. and he said that this was done “to take the front before the front takes me,” referring to the published article on the social media page that had misinterpreted what he actually said on the programme.

40 minutes after speaking with the senior police officers, as Samaroo emerged from the station he stated, “We gave a statement. I told them exactly what happened and that’s it.”

After Samaroo was done with his statements at the station, he reportedly went to the St Clair Police Station to find out why the police were at his house and was detained immediately.

The arrest was made amid continued public attention surrounding the Samaroo family followed by the January 20 police-involved shooting that claimed the life of Joshua Samaroo, for which Kaia Sealy, Joshua Samaroo's common-law wife, who is currently facing eight charges for the case arising out of the shooting. However, she was granted bail last Wednesday, following a virtual court hearing.