Paul Osuyi, Asaba
An official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) attached to the Delta State command has escaped death by the whiskers after he was attacked by an irate mob along the Asaba axis of the Benin-Onitsha expressway.
The mob accused the officer identified as Mgbede, of allegedly pushing out a truck driver from his moving vehicle to the surface of the tarred road.
He was said to have jumped into the truck in a commando style and pushed down the driver after efforts to take over the steering failed.
Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that the driver landed on the tarred road, gasping for breathe, a situation that attracted the mob who pounced on the officer.
However, the officer survived the attack following the switch reaction of members of the FRSC response team, who rescued him from the claws of the mob, and rushed him to the to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba, along with the truck driver.
Contacted, the Sector Command of FRSC in the state, Mr. Alphonsus Godwin denied that the officer pushed the truck driver out the steering.
“The man was asked to stop at the checkpoint because he was not with seatbelt, rather than stopping, he moved ahead and the marshal jumped into the vehicle and took the control of the steering.
“He stop the vehicle immediately and trying to arrest the driver in a bid to impound the vechicle when the mob stormed the scene and beat the officer blue and black.
“Before our response team arrived the scene, they have brutalized the officer. They carried the two of them who were lying on the ground to FMC, Asaba. This is one of the challenges we are having in the job when vehicle owners are trying to resist arrest,” he said.