It is despicable that officers could treat a citizen with so much impertinence and abandon him on the street even when it is obvious that such a citizen needs help. It is equally vexatious, when such a citizen is law-abiding, and exerts himself legally to eke out a living in a country that fails to notice resourcefulness and rewards same.
Aren’t officers supposed to cross-check facts, show identification especially if they are in mufti and on assignment? An incident in Port Harcourt that almost dehumanised a citizen in the hands of policemen in mufti who wrongfully picked on him as a member of a gang of pick-pockets on a fateful night refers here.
I wish they knew that he had to crawl and beg people coming from vigil to help stop a cab for him (after he had broken his ankle in a man-hole trying to run into safety) but like the Pharisees, they refused to be good Samaritans, looked at him, hissed and moved on.
I wish they knew that he crawled to a church, but the security man didn’t trust him enough to let him in or make an attempt to stop a cab for him which made him to sleep out on the street like a destitute.
I wish they knew that he called his flat mate, but – trust our telecommunication network – he couldn’t get through all night. Help came for him at 5a.m. the next day, but if he had had an internal injury, he might have bled to death before dawn. Some police officers are insensitive about the welfare of citizens and it is easy to die under their watch.
Simon Abah,
Port Harcourt, Rivers state