Men of the Enugu State Police Command have shot a motorist, Christian Ogwuike, after he allegedly crushed a policeman at a checkpoint.
It was gathered that Ogwuike was with his fiancée in a Lexus SUV when the incident happened on Thursday, July 21, 2022.
At the Monkey Roundabout close to the Zonal Office of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, the couple reportedly met some policemen on the road.
A source, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, said the police shot the motorist when he refused to give a bribe.
He said, “When he stopped, one of the policemen, who were six at the time, asked him to clear from the road and come down. I don’t know what transpired again, but I saw when they started shouting. I overheard the guy saying he won’t give them N5,000.
“The next thing I saw was when the policemen dragged the guy out of his car and shot him pointblank. They also demobilised his car and took him away.”
A video of the incident, which went viral on social media, showed the policemen carrying the victim into a vehicle
Reacting to the incident on Sunday, the Enugu State Police Command confirmed the shooting.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, said, “On July 21, 2022, around 2pm, a team of police operatives serving in No. 3 PMF Enugu, while on routine stop and search duty at the EFCC Roundabout, Independence Layout, flagged down the driver of a Lexus saloon car.
“The driver, rather than stop, recklessly zoomed off, knocking down one of the operatives and pulling him along to a distance of about four poles, before he was forced to stop by other members of the team, who immediately went after him.
“In the bid to restrain the driver from further escape, one of the operatives fired a knee-level shot, which got him (driver) in the thigh.
“The policeman, Inspector Aneka Ndayi, who sustained severe bodily injuries, and the said driver, Ogwuike Christian, were both moved to a hospital and are responding to treatment and in a stable condition.”
He said the state Commissioner of Police, CP Abubakar Lawal, had ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department to thoroughly investigate the incident and come up with actionable findings.