Man drowns in river while trying to evade Police arrest

- A man identified only as Oge, drowned in the Elechi river in Rivers state while trying to evade Police arrest

- The victim was fearful of arrest and jumped into the river as Police stormed the area and began to shoot

- The Police PRO said the officers were after suspected armed robbers; and that the victim ought not to have dived into the river, as he was not a suspect

While attempting to evade Police arrest, a man identified only as Oge, drowned in the Elechi River in the Diobu area, Port-Harcourt, Rivers state.

According to Punch, the Police suddenly appeared and began shooting into the air, while the deceased was playing with his friends around 4pm.

Legit.ng gathers that as people scampered for safety, Oge ran into the river to evade arrest. However, he could not swim, and died.

After the policemen left, some youths reportedly realised that Oge had died, and began to protest. They subsequently took the body of the deceased to the Diobu Police Division and later to the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, where he was confirmed dead by doctors.

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According to an eyewitness reportedly identified as Kelvin, Oge was fearful of arrest and jumped into the river where he immediately drowned because he could not swim. He added that policemen watched as the victim struggled; and that he could not be saved by onlookers as they were also scared of getting arrested.

He stated: “Oge was playing with his friends when the Police arrived and started shooting. Everybody ran in different directions and he (Oge) jumped into the river.

“After jumping into the water, he struggled for about 20 minutes but nobody helped him. The Police only watched and never tried to save him and we (residents) could not save him because the Police were around.”

According to another eyewitness identified as Michael, when the Police stormed the area and began shooting, the victim had actually been in the toilet. He said Oge ran out and dived into the river to evade arrest.

In his words: “Oge was not a bad boy, he was relieving himself when the policemen came. He ran out of the toilet in panic. Unfortunately, he jumped into the river and drowned because he could not swim and we are all sad about it.”

When contacted, the public relations officer, Rivers state police command, Nnamdi Omoni, said the policemen were after suspected armed robbers and never shot at anybody. He opined that since the victim had nothing to do with the crime, he ought not to have dived into the river.

He said: “Policemen were there to arrest some suspected armed robbers and the man suddenly jumped into the river and drowned. If you look at the body of the man, you will not see any gunshot injury in his body. That he jumped into the river when the Police were not chasing him leaves much to be desired.”

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a mob made up of motorcycle riders attacked the Ibeshe Police Station in Ikorodu, Lagos with stones, bottles and attempted to burn it down, following the death of a motorcycle rider, identified as Paul, aka Baba Ezine.

The deceased had gotten involved in an accident as he tried to evade a Police checkpoint.

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Source: Legit.ng