A routine trip to night patrols turned bloody for a policeman when he engaged at least seven young men in a brawl last Friday (7 April).
The incident happened at about 4:30 pm when the civilians were reportedly intercepted by a patrol team on the Kumawu-Effiduase stretch in the Ashanti Region.
An attempt to conduct a search on their KIA Matrix taxicab with registration number AS 9504-19, sparked anger among the occupants who pounced on the policeman, struggled with him and put him down on the ground.
Footage linked to the incident captures three young men in the ensuing scuffle with the uniformed officer on the ground in what appears to be an attempt to snatch his assault rifle from him. The police officer had blood oozing from his face after two of his colleagues appeared at the scene to separate the scuffle.
Suspects arrested
A police surveillance team was contacted for reinforcement, according to a police incident report.
“They arrived and police managed to arrest three of the assailants namely Edward Boateng aged 20 years, Evan Addo aged 20 years and Yaw Kusi aged 22 years. The others managed to escape. Two of the runaway assailants namely Michael Owusu and Boateng Yaw age 28 and 20 years respectively were later apprehended by the surveillance team”, the report indicated.
The report further confirmed that the officer “sustained physical bodily injuries at his forehead and dislocation of the left knee”.
‘Fight over rat carcass?’
It still remains unclear what caused this latest incident, but other reports suggest an attempt by the policeman to take the carcass of a rat from the young men may have led to the violent attack.
The young men were reportedly returning from a hunt and had the carcass in the boot of the taxi.
The policeman is alleged to have fired a warning shot, which resulted in the youth pouncing on him in an attempt to prevent him from being able to fire more shots.
The officer whose name was given as G/Cpl Sylvester Berhene is receiving treatment at the hospital. The suspects would be arraigned on Tuesday (11 April), a police source told dailymailgh.com.
“Strenuous efforts underway to apprehend the other two assailants”, the source added.
SOURCE: DAILY MAIL GH
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