Police accused of battering driver

A BUS driver in Mazabuka has accused traffic police officers of beating and pepper-spraying him before he was detained last Friday.

The driver claimed the officers battered him after he reminded them of the Mungwi Road incident in Lusaka where their colleagues got suspended after they were caught collecting money at an illegal roadblock by Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo.

Narrating his ordeal yesterday, Emmanuel Milupi said he was made to spend a night in Mazabuka police cells on Friday after a small misunderstanding with one of the traffic officers.

This was after his colleagues had cleared him at a roadblock they had mounted near the railway line, not far from the roundabout.

Mr Milupi said after the officer who was manning the roadblock allowed him to pass, his colleague who was by the roadside told him to park his bus.

He said when he asked why, the officer said he wanted to check him for the second time when he had already been cleared. The officer got angry and a scuffle ensued.

“I did not understand why my bus was to be checked twice at the same roadblock and when I asked the traffic officer why he was being difficult and delaying people aboard the bus, he started pulling me out of the bus.

“I told him to take my details if I had committed an offence and pleaded with him to allow me to take the passengers to their destinations and then come back but he wouldn’t listen. “I got frustrated and told him that it was that kind of behaviour which got his friends in Lusaka into trouble after being cornered by Mr Lusambo and I left.

“I only realised that I was being pursued when I reached the bridge and I parked. Five police officers then descended on me, beat me up and pepper-sprayed me in the eyes before bundling me into their vehicle and taking me to the police station where I spent a night,” Mr. Milupi explained.

He said he was only released on Saturday morning upon paying K300 “guilty fine” but did not understand what it was for since ‘‘I had not committed a traffic offence.’’

“I was only released after paying that money the following day over a crime I don’t understand. I have not yet fully recovered from the beatings and pepper spraying but I think police officers were not fair to me because I did nothing wrong.

“I only reminded that police officer who caused the problem that his friends in Lusaka got into trouble not long ago.

“If I had run away, it would have been a different issue but the officer did not listen even when I told him to get my details and that I would come back to the police station after leaving my passengers. I was within the law,” he said.

Efforts to get a comment from the officerin-charge failed.