Officer accused of shooting at lorry

A senior police officer at Ukasi Police Station, Mwingi sub-county in Kitui allegedly shot at a lorry driver and his loader, deflating their vehicle's front and rear tyres with bullets.

The driver, James Muraguri, and his companion, James Ngige, said they were ferrying 200 bags of charcoal from Madogo in Bura sub-county, Tana River County to Nairobi when officers manning a roadblock flagged them down and demanded a bribe.

"I pleaded with the officers to let us proceed and told them I only had Sh400 in my pockets but they would not listen and demanded Sh3,000," Muraguri said.

The driver said after attempts to reach a consensus failed, they locked themselves in the lorry's cabin only for the officers to shout at them, demanding that they get out of the vehicle.

When they refused, the police officer drew his pistol and opened fire, puncturing the front and rear tyres.

Ngige and Muraguri said it was only by God's grace that they escaped death following the scary shooting incident.

However, Mwingi East OCPD Gideon Mugambi rubbished the shooting claims terming them as "far-fetched".

Mugambi said the two had defied an assistant chief's order to stop in Engamba area, prompting the provincial administrator to alert police at Ukasi to intercept the truck.

He said they suspected the driver was evading police because he did not have a licence to ferry the charcoal.

The OCPD further denied that any officer tried to solicit a bribe from the lorry crew, saying they are now looking for the driver to face charges of defying orders and engaging in illicit business.

However, the lorry's owner, David Macharia said claims his driver defied orders to stop are not true.

Macharia told off the OCPD for what he called baseless remarks aimed at covering up the shooting incident.

"It is very surprising that the OCPD is rushing to defend his men instead of initiating investigations to establish what exactly happened," he said.