Visitors and residents were shocked and outraged when an off-duty Bahamian police officer savagely beat a tour guide in downtown Nassau in front of throngs of tourists.

The tour guide, identified by family members as Edena Farah, was leading a Segway scooter tour in downtown Nassau with approximately twelve tourists following her.

An eye witness said Ms Farah was stopped by an off-duty female police officer. The police officer, who was not in uniform, suddenly grabbed Ms Farah by the hair and started to beat her, in full view of tourists and residents behind the straw market.

It is not known what provoked the police officer, or why she behaved the way she did.

A large crowd of tourists, vendors and residents gathered with many expressing compete disgust with the officer’s behaviour.

“The police should not be [acting] like that. They’re nasty,” visiting French Canadian Dael Piwko told a reporter from the Nassau Guardian.

“[The police] scared us. We came here, we spent our money and what are they doing? They beat the woman. They’re showing us bad things. They should not do that.”

Police on the scene could not give details on what happened, saying the matter was still “under investigation.”

Another eyewitness said the female officer initially approached Ms Farah in a very aggressive manner and never identified herself as a police officer.

Witnesses said that after the police officer grabbed her by the hair, Ms Farah allegedly threw her drink in the officer’s face. The police officer reacted by biting Ms Farah.

Two male officers entered the fray, grabbing Ms Farah and hauling her off to jail for, of all things, “disorderly conduct”.

Ms Farrah is currently facing jail time for this incident which left her bruised battered broken arm bitten and shaken up.

The policemen were reassigned.