Police vehicle knocks baby to death, mourners tear-gassed

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1317088/-/b1dbj1z/-/index.html

SOURCE: THE DAILY MONITOR, 31 JANUARY 2012

In Summary

Police crime. A resident says police cars, which are driven recklessly in the congested area, frequent the place to have fuel siphoned off them.

Police officers on Sunday fired tear gas canisters and bullets to disperse mourners at the home of a two-year-old baby who was knocked by a speeding police car in the congested Kitoro West Zone, Nsambya in Kampala.

The officers wanted to forcefully take the body of the baby, Solomon Saava Ssebagala, to Mulago Referral Hospital for a postmortem which parents and their relatives declined on grounds that they could not afford to spend more money on the process.

Amid the tear gas, the parents of the deceased locked the body of the boy in the house when everybody scampered away for their dear lives as clouds of tear gas filled the atmosphere.

Police attempts to access the body succeeded when they opted for negotiations with the bereaved family and residents several hours later.

Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Ibin Ssenkumbi confirmed the incident and regretted it.

Officer arrested
“The officer attached to the Canine Unit who was driving the car has been arrested on charges of reckless driving and causing death. We are also investigating whether he had been authorised to use the car,” Mr Ssenkumbi said yesterday.

Mr Ssenkindu Mutebi, a resident, said many police cars are driven to the area to siphon off fuel out of them.

He said: “He was speeding in this congested area. I think he wanted to siphon off fuel before going for other trips. We had kept calm throughout the incident. We even took their driver to the Local Council chairperson to forward him to police. Soon afterwards, other police officers came and just started tear-gassing and shooting at us after some people expressed their grievances.”

The deceased‘s father, Mr Frederick Makubuya said: “I left home after my son had returned from church with the mother but I was shocked to receive a call in the evening that he had been knocked by a speeding car.”

He added: “When I reached home, teargas was all over the place. They had taken the body for postmortem and we had to wait up to 3pm when they gave us transport.”

Meanwhile, a tear gas canister landed into a nearby salon where one resident, Ms Rose Namutebi, who had taken cover with her child, suffocated and later fainted.

Amid a heavy shootout, brave residents managed to rescue the lady from the salon.
Similar incidents have happened in Ndejje Lubugumu village near Entebbe Road, and in Mabanda Village in Matugga, Wakiso District recently.

In both incidents police had to fire tear gas to disperse the irate mourners.
At least 3,000 police officers are under investigation over different crimes by the Police Professional Standards Unit.