-Policeman held after allegedly killing commercial motorcyclist
By William Selmah wselmah@gmail.com
The Liberia National Police are on a manhunt for unknown persons who were on Monday carrying a sizable cache of arms and ammunition in the Careysburg east of the capital, Monrovia.
The arms discovered include shot guns, 25 boxes of ammunition containing 750 single barrel rounds.
Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue told a news conference that police at the check point bumped into them during a routine stop and search operation.
The arms and ammunition were said to have been loaded on a private vehicle, but the identity of those ferrying the arms and ammunition is not yet known.
In a separate development, a police officer has been arrested in Monrovia after reportedly shooting dead a commercial motorcycle operator in the Soul Clinic Community in Paynesville, near Monrovia.
Officer Roosevelt Dehmie, Commander of the Goba Chop Police Depot is said to have gone to arrest Beyan Lamie for riding beyond the 10:00 PM hour that motorcycles are forbidden to be in the streets.
It was when scuffle ensued between the two, leading to the discharge of his firearm, fatally wounding the motorcyclist, who was later pronounced dead on arrival at the John F. Kennedy memorial Hospital in Sinkor, Monrovia.
The Police Commander also sustained bullet wound in his palm following the incident, which the Board Chairman of the Federation of Motorcycle and Tricycle Union of Liberia Rev. Luther Tarpeh claims was self-inflicted, in order to build a case that the victim was shot as he and the police officer wrestled over the officer’s arm.
Addressing a news conference on Monday, Rev. Tarpeh said “the board will not and will go all out using all peaceful means and the law to ensure that the Lamie family gets justice over the death of their son”.
He then called on civil society institutions and peace loving Liberians to join them in this endeavor.
Luther said far from the truth, commercial motor cycle riders are not trouble makers in Liberian society as they are sometimes perceived..
“These young men are not criminals. They are providing vital services for our people – transporting our children and wives to school, church and market”, the cleric who heads the union of motorcycles and tricycles noted.
Eye witness Zaza Zubah of the Soul Clinic Community said he and other residents tried in vain to quell the altercation between the victim and the police.
“I know the officer and the deceased, and the officer himself knows me and knew Beyan very well and we all live in this community”.
He said before shots were fired, they pleaded with Commander Dehmie not to arrest of the deceased, but he insisted he must carry him handcuffed to his depot.
The eyewitness further narrated that after Beyan was shot, Dehmie immediately fled the scene.
Meanwhile, Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue has called for calm, assuring that all will be done to get to the bottom the matter.
“If our officer discharged his firearm without a probable cause, he will be death with in keeping with the law,” he assured at a press conference Monday at the police headquarters.
This latest incident is certainly going to reignite the debate as to whether or not the time is ripe to fully arm the police which in time past blamed its inability to curb armed robbery to its patrolmen not being fully equipped.