Policeman Dies While Trying To Arrest Danfo Driver In Lagos

A police officer attached to Orile
Division died in a motor accident
opposite Fatgbems Filling Station,
along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway at
about 9a.m., yesterday.
It was learned that the deceased,
while attempting to apprehend a
commercial bus (Danfo) driver, who
was picking up passengers along the
road, jumped into the moving bus
with number plates KJA305XL.
The bus sped off, while trying to
escape, and hit another car with
number plates LND340DF. The
sudden stop made the policeman,
who was hanging on the bus, to fall.
An eyewitness told Vanguard that as
the cop fell, a trailer ran over him,
killing him instantly, as the
commercial bus driver and his
conductor took to their heels,
abandoning the vehicle.
Vanguard gathered that the driver of
the car, which the bus driver hit, was
travelling for his father’s burial when
he incident occurred.
Operatives of Federal Road Safety
Corps, FRSC, Lagos State Traffic
Management Agency, LASTMA, and
policemen from Trinity and Orile
Divisions were there to ensure free
flow of traffic as onlookers besieged
the area.
A passenger’s tale
A passenger in the bus, Rotimi Baki,
said: “ The policeman jumped into the
commercial bus while the bus was
moving and picking passengers at
the bus stop.
“All of a sudden, the commercial bus
driver braked and the policeman fell
off and a truck coming from behind
hit him. The vehicle in front of the
commercial bus had stopped. So the
bus driver did same.”
One of the police officers, Sergeant
Samuel, from Trinity Divisional
Police Station harassed, dragged and
seized Vanguard reporter’s mobile
phone, accusing her of celebrating
the death of his colleague.
All pleas to get back the phone fell
on deaf ears as the officers kept
shouting ‘I will deal with you. Who
gave you authority to take pictures?
You must come to our office’.
When she eventually got to their
office, the Divisional Police Officer
called the officer, who seized the
phone, and returned it to the
reporter.
Later, officers from the Trinity Police
Division took the corpse of the
Policemen to Orile Police Station and
later to Mainland Hospital Mortuary,
Yaba.