Residents attack traffic cops in Bomet crackdown

Two traffic police officers in Bomet are nursing injuries after they were attacked by the public while on a crackdown.

The officers were pelted with stones after clamping down two vehicles at Kapkoros trading centre in Bomet Central.

The officers in the company of Bomet base commander Richard Psaima fired in the air to disperse the group.

A police vehicle they were using was damaged during the incident.

The residents were angered by their action to clamp down the vehicles allegedly headed to a funeral.

“The vehicles were not picking passengers but going for a funeral," one resident said.

Bomet County Police Commander Naomi Ichami said the officers have been treated and discharged.

“The two sustained head injuries and were treated at Longisa Hospital and discharged,” she said.

Ichami added that police are investigating the incident.

Police are also looking for two drivers alleged to have incited the public against the officers.

“We know drivers who incited the public and they will be charged,” she added.

The two - Corporal David Chumo and Constable Alfred Cherutich - are part of a team that was on a routine patrol conducting a crackdown on vehicles operating illegally on the Silibwet-Litein route.

Chumo sustained a deep cut on the right side of his head while his colleague was injured on his back.

Saima and a female officer escaped unhurt during the clash which disrupted businesses for more than an hour.

“We were only after the vehicles operating along this route illegally…they had been parked at a stage with passengers, we only came to realise later that they were among the cars hired to go for the funeral," one officer said.

He added: “These vehicles had no red ribbons tied to them to indicate they were headed to a funeral."

The route is notorious with vehicles operating illegally, forcing the police to dispatch the team to conduct the crackdown.

Ichami said the week-long crackdown had seen more than 30 vehicles impounded and drivers charged