A 56-year-old driver, an employee of the Lagos State Ambulance Services, LASAMBUS, Jimoh Fasasi has been allegedly beaten to death by police officers attached to Surulere division of the Nigerian Police Force for violating the new traffic law.
The incidence occurred on Tuesday at about 7:oop.m.
According to LASAMBUS staff and other eyewitnesses the deceased was riding home on his motorbike , when he was accosted by a team of policemen around Stadium Bridge for using his motorbike to ply the road, an act they claim contravened the new traffic law.
The policemen confiscated his motorcycle , but during the process a scuffle ensued and the policemen reportedly hit the deceased with the butt of their guns.
A LASAMBUS staff who pleaded anonymity said that the deceased contacted his office informing one Lateef, of the development.
According to the source; “Fasasi told Lateef that a policeman was beating him at Surulere, urging him to rush down. We were later told that as the policeman continued hitting him with the butt of his gun, he slumped in the process and started foaming in the mouth”
In their own reaction, the police have denied killing the deceased, asserting that the deceased slumped and died in the hospital.
Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braid, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, stated emphatically that the policemen did not have a hand in Fasasi’s death.
“Rather, investigation conducted around the scene,” according to her, “revealed that after making calls on his phone, the deceased moved close to a petty trader who was selling soft drinks.
“When he got there, he started panting while the trader was staring at him. But after some time, he fell down and started shaking and foaming from the mouth. He was immediately rushed to the Island General Hospital, where the Divisional Police Officer was called at night to say he had died.”