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A 21-year-old phone seller, Olusola Olumide, has been arrested after allegedly crushing a police sergeant during a stop-and-search operation in Egbeda, Lagos State.
The deceased officer, identified as Johnson Okediji, was reportedly knocked down and dragged under a Lexus ES 350 along Olugbede Street on September 26.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Tijani, disclosed the incident during a news conference on Monday.
Tijani said officers conducting stop-and-search operations had flagged down the Lexus driven by Olumide and asked him to pull over.
According to the police commissioner, the driver initially stopped but suddenly accelerated as Okediji approached the vehicle.
The officer was reportedly knocked down and dragged beneath the moving car.
Tijani said the driver failed to stop despite efforts by police officers and passers-by to make him halt the vehicle.
The driver was eventually chased and arrested, while the injured sergeant was rushed to a nearby hospital before being referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH.
“He sustained multiple fractures and serious head injuries. He was taken to the nearby hospital and subsequently referred to LASUTH, where he was unfortunately pronounced dead on arrival,” Tijani said.
However, Olumide gave a different account of the incident, claiming that the vehicle suffered brake failure.
According to him, he had taken the car to a mechanic days before the incident to replace the brake pads and was assured that the repair had been completed.
Olumide said he was attempting to stop when the brake allegedly failed, causing him to hit another vehicle before running over the police officer.
“My car brake failed and I accidentally ran over the officer. I was about to park, but there was a slip and I hit the car in front of me. I couldn’t stop the car,” he said.
He added that he had gone to buy fuel before encountering the police officers at the checkpoint.
Olumide also claimed that officers at the checkpoint knew him and understood that he had not deliberately struck the deceased sergeant.
The police commissioner, meanwhile, expressed concern over the growing number of motorists who allegedly speed away when asked to stop during stop-and-search operations, describing the trend as worrisome.
The incident has left the circumstances surrounding the fatal collision subject to the competing accounts of the police and the arrested driver, while the police investigation continues.
