Policeman Goes Mad Over N20k Bribe, Shoots Driver, Kills Painter

An unidentified police sergeant attached to Area ‘C’ Police Command, Iponri, Surulere, Lagos, allegedly went beserk and shot a truck driver on his left hand and a stray bullet he fired killed another person while he was making efforts to escape from the scene of the incident to avoid being lynched by an angry mob. An eyewitness said that trouble started when the cop with about five others who were operating in a (danfo) commuter bus blocked the truck with a Lagos registration number RV538 EKY driven by Saheed Mufutau. The incident occurred at Jimoh Odutola Street, by PHCN office, Surulere, Lagos on Friday. According to the source, the policeman, after checking the truck’s particulars and they were up to date, demanded for a N20,000 bribe which the driver pleaded he could not afford because he was in the area to off-load empty containers. During the ensuing argument, the sergeant allegedly shot the driver in his left hand. Sensing danger, his colleagues in the danfo bus sped off and left the sergeant to his fate. In his desperate bid to escape from the scene, the cop fired several shots into the air to scare the mob from lynching him. One of the bullets he fired hit Dotun Alawiye, a motor spray painter at a nearby workshop. He died instantly. The erring sergeant still managed to escape with the help of a motorcyclist he forced to ferry him away from the area. He was later arrested at Bode Thomas Police Division and handed over to the Area ‘C’ Police Command where he was serving.  Chairman of Artisans Association at Doyin bus stop, where the deceased painter had his workshop, Mr. Gbenga Shoneye, said they heard the gun shots at the bus stop but did not know one of them had been hit by a stray bullet. “We are appealing to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to ensure that justice is done because the deceased had a wife and four children,” he said. Wife of the deceased Mrs. Omolara Karounwi, 30, said she was shocked to hear that her husband was killed by a stray bullet because he was an easy-going person who never got involved in any trouble. “We had been married for 15 years and blessed with four children. How am I going to cope with the upkeep and training of the children?” she wept. She called on the authorities to ensure that justice is done on the murder of her husband, while also soliciting for the assistance of kind Nigerians on the upkeep of her four children.