After being caught on camera beating two traffic police officers, the tuk tuk operator has come out to explain the motive that drove him towards the act. According to him, the traffic police had destroyed his auto rickshaw’s windscreen and side mirrors.
The tuk tuk owner who was speaking to Standard from his hideout said even after one of the officers used a club to smash his side mirror and windscreen, they attempted to beat him up and he had to defend himself.
I hear the tuk tuk owner said even after one of the officers used a club to smash his side mirror and windscreen, they attempted to beat him up and he had to defend himself. #JamboKenya
— Kinoti Joseph (@KinotiJoseph) November 27, 2018
In the 42 seconds video, which went viral, the man is seen hurling stones at unarmed traffic police officers and at some point dragging one on the road. He Continued assault then retreats and after a while is seen driving back, then exiting his tuk tuk to continue his assault on the officers. Drama continues, with the officers picking stones and hurling them at the tuk tuk, even as the driver tries to flee the scene. The man who sought anonymity for fear of being victimised, said he was on his way to Nakuru town with three passengers on board when the incident happened.
The two officers, he said, had stopped two other tuk tuks and were collecting money. When they saw him, he said, they flagged him down. “The officers had stopped two other tuk tuks and I could see them receive money. They saw me approach and one signaled me to stop,” he said. He says he had just slowed down and wanted to stop when one of the officers hit his side mirror and smashed the windscreen. He said after stopping, he asked the officer why he had smashed his side mirror but the officer kept mum.
#KTNPrime @KTNKenya has traced the tuk tuk operator who appeared in a video clip in a scuffle with police officers in Nakuru @StandardKenya #KTNPrime https://t.co/dLHbuexnMs pic.twitter.com/67uj3QVKfS
— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) November 26, 2018
“I asked for the second time why the officer smashed my side mirror but the officer could not explain,” he said. He could not bear the pain of having his tut tuk’s side mirror and windscreen smashed and he turned to the officers who were now calling for a towing car to drag his machine away. “I got annoyed and demanded to be given answers, as they tried to intimidate me, saying there was nothing I could do to them,” the man said.
He said he engaged the officers in a scuffle and had to fight for his rights and dignity when the officers started pulling his tuk tuk as if to make it fall to the ground. “I decided enough was enough and had to fight what I believed to be unjust and unfair cops who were intimidating me because they were in Government uniform. We exchanged blows and after I overpowered them, they picked stones and hurled at me. I had to get into my tuk tuk and try to confuse them by changing direction,” he said.
The man said he had been surviving on the tuk tuk business, whose proceeds he used to feed his family and educate his siblings. He said the prospect of being out of his source of his daily bread because of the policemen was too painful to fathom. “I completely lost my mind because of the injustice, which was being meted on me by police officers whose interest was the bribe,” he said.