Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo has dismissed allegations that a taxi driver, Sheikh Ahmed Omar, was shot dead by police officers on patrol, noting that the post-mortem report revealed that the deceased died as a result of a car accident.
According to the autopsy report conducted by government pathologist Dr. Dorothy Njeru, the deceased died from head and chest injuries causes by blunt force trauma consistent of a road crash.
Speaking to the press early today at his office, together with the county security team, the county commissioner affirmed that the autopsy was requested by the family members to ascertain the cause of death of their kin.
Meanwhile, tens of local youths took to the streets of Garissa town demonstrating over the incident.
Mwabudzo reiterated that the police had nothing to do with the death of the taxi driver and warned that those involved in criminal activities and contraband business will not escape the police dragnet.
“We want to allay the fears that the deceased was shot by Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) officers. I also wish to clarify that we do not have RDU in this area, what we have is the Border Patrol Unit (BPU). The allegations that police officers were involved in the shooting and the fake witnesses who gave statements concerning the shooting are all liars. We are law-abiding law enforcement agencies and we are here to serve the people not to kill them,” Mwabudzo said.
“We want to inform the members of the public that the police have nothing to do with this death except the fact the deceased made a U-turn on seeing the police officers on patrol. He was not even chased by the officers; in fact, they only trailed behind him only to find the vehicle had rolled along the road,” he added.
Yesterday, a section of leaders and community members called on the security officials to expedite the investigations into the matter.
Led by Garissa Township MP Major (Rtd) Dekow Mohamed, and accompanied by several MCAs and community leaders, the group said they would not allow police to use excessive force against the people.
According to leaders and family members, the deceased, 25-year-old Sheikh Ahmed Omar, was allegedly shot dead by officers from the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) stationed at Modika while manning a roadblock along the Nunow–Modogashe road. However, police say the victim died in a self-involving accident while fleeing from officers on patrol.
By Erick Kyalo
