Mon, 18 Sep 2017 10:40:55 +0000
By Nambela Mwandia
THE Patriotic Front has distanced itself from a video showing a motorist exchanging blows with a Zambia police traffic officers in Lusaka.
A fracas broke out at an impromptu road block by Emmasdale Police station traffic unit based at the Garden Police post where officers were filmed exchanging punches with a motorist.
PF media director Sunday Chanda has refuted social media claims that Munir Zulu, a known PF member was the aggressor in the sad video as he was seen in the background trying to stop the fight.
“If you notice in the video, Zulu is actually trying to stop the fight and cannot be said to be the aggressor, he was just caught up in the situation, and not the one fighting with the police,” he said.
Mr Chanda said Mr Zulu was nowhere in the fist fight, but that he could be seen pushing away the motorists who engaged the officer.
And Police spokesperson Esther Katongo identified the officers as traffic police from the Emmasdale Police Station under Garden police post.
She explained that the incident happened on Friday, 15th September 2017 after the motorist was allegedly caught on the wrong side of the law when he was using his mobile phone while driving a Mercedez Benz vehicle with South African number place.
According to witness statements, there was a scuffle between the officer and the motorist in the Benz after the office confiscated the driver’s licence which forced him to call out for back-up from an unregistered Vitz that was coming behind and that was when all hell broke loose.
It was at that point that the officers grabbed the drivers licence and asked him to pull over to wait for them to clear traffic which was mounting at the check point.
Ms Katongo however said they were still awaiting a full report of what exactly transpired in order to give a comprehensive statement of the event.
