A driver on Tuesday abducted a female traffic officer who had arrested him in the ongoing matatu crackdown along the Mumias-Bungoma road. The incident occurred at Lukoye when the matatu was flagged down for non-compliance to the Michuki rules at a roadblock.
The female officer was assigned to escort the vehicle to a police station. That is when the driver sped off with the officer in the matatu.
Mumias Traffic Base Commander Agnes Habbat stated, “I assigned the officer the task of leading the vehicle to the police station but the driver decided to speed off with her to an unknown destination.”
Habbat added that the driver attempted to push the officer out of the matatu while moving. It is during a short struggle that she sustained injuries.
“She sustained bruises on her neck and chest from the struggle with the driver, who attempted to throw her out of the moving vehicle,” the traffic base commander conveyed.
Mumias OCPD Peter Katam added that other officers were informed of the incident and pursued the rogue matatu.
Together with boda-boda riders, they caught up with the matatu 10km from the scene of the abduction.
“Other officers were informed of the incident and with the help of bodaboda riders, they pursued the matatu. We recovered the vehicle at Shitswitswi but the driver managed to escape,” he stated.
The driver escaped but police arrested two people who were in the vehicle. The injured officer was treated at St Mary’s Hospital and later discharged.
Confirming the incident, Mumias OCPD Peter Katam said, the officer had impounded the vehicle after establishing it was unroadworthy. The officer, according to Katam, had boarded the vehicle and directed that it be driven to Mumias police station but the suspect declined and sped towards Butere.
” Other officers were informed of the incident and with the help of bodaboda riders, they pursued the rogue matatu. We recovered the vehicle at Shitswitswi but the driver managed to escape,” said Katam.
Two people, he said, had been arrested and are set to be arraigned on Wednesday, November 14, after investigations. The traffic officer suffered chest and neck injuries. She was admitted at St. Mary’s Mumias Hospital and later discharged.