A reckless police driver behind the wheels of a van attached to the Festac police station has been accused of hitting a woman and her baby, causing brain damage in the nursing mother. Several sources related to the woman reported that the accident happened on June 23, 2013 as the police driver sped dangerously against the flow of traffic on a one-way lane along the busy Oshodi-Apapa Road, knocking down the unsuspecting woman and her baby. An eyewitness said the police corporal seemed to act with drunken disregard for other road users. “As he was driving, he was waving his hand and shouting at drivers who were driving the right way to clear out of the road,” the witness said. “He kept driving that way until he eventually knocked down the woman coming out of the bus with her baby.” Family sources said the badly injured woman and her baby were rushed to the emergency ward at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Doctors reportedly discovered that she had sustained a pelvic fracture, facial bruises, and brain injury. The baby, Ammarah Anjolaiya, also suffered deep facial cuts and a broken jaw. A family source said Corporal Friday’s first concern at the scene of the accident was to immediately arrange a cab to convey the “madam” in his car to her destination. He later provided the injured woman’s family with N70,000 for treatment. The source said the culprit subsequently abandoned the victims of his reckless driving at the hospital. “We have so far spent above N500,000 on treatment and upkeep,” said the source. Another family source told SaharaReporters that the victim’s husband, Sulaiman Anjolaiya, had been unemployed for several months. “His wife was the bread winner of the family and now she is down with mental and physical injuries due to the reckless driving of this police corporal who has now abandoned them to the fate he inflicted on the family,” she said. Our sources disclosed that the family of the victim had a shocking experience when they visited the FESTAC divisional police station to meet with the Divisional Police Officer, Ibrahim Zango, whose mistress was being taken to the airport at the time of the accident. “DPO Zango spoke to us in a very rude manner before offering us additional ten thousand naira,” said one of the victim’s relatives. He added that the DPO said the woman being driven by the reckless police driver was “just a relative.” Mrs. Taskirat Anjolaiya is currently receiving treatment at LUTH for her physical and mental injuries. (23)
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 21:05:26 +0000