<<Print>>

There was pandemonium at the Kpeshie Divisional Police Station on Saturday following the beating of a policeman by some soldiers just a few metres away from the police station. The soldiers, three in number � consisted of a corporal, a lance corporal (names withheld) and a third, who is on the run � attacked the policeman at the Nungua Cold Store Junction, which is close to the police station. The policeman, Corporal Joseph Agbenyegah, was headed towards his place of work when the soldiers abruptly stopped their vehicle in the middle of the road to buy from a retail shop situated along the road. The action by the soldiers on the road, which was already congested by taxi drivers who plied the Cold Store�Coco Beach road, made it impossible for the policeman to bypass the soldiers. Cpl Agbenyegah approached the soldiers and told them to park properly to allow the flow of traffic, eyewitnesses said. According to our sources, two of the soldiers in the car got down and identified themselves as soldiers and questioned why Cpl Agbenyegah should be instructing them. Cpl Agbenyegah is said to have removed his handcuffs to prove he is a policeman; an act which, eyewitnesses said, infuriated the soldiers. Kweku Asante, who was at the scene of the incident, said one of the soldiers walloped Corporal Agbenyegah off his feet and sent him thumping to the asphalt ground. �He was shouting that �I am a policeman� and was asking for the civilians there to help him, but the civilians were also afraid. The other soldier also went in and used his boot to stamp the policeman�s face.� He continued, �There developed a cut on top of the policeman�s eye and blood started coming out and pouring onto his shirt and the floor. I quickly organised some taxi drivers to help but they were still kicking him on the floor till somebody called the police and they arrived on a motorbike to rescue their man,� he said. When The Finder arrived at the police station minutes after the incident, Cpl Agbenyegah, who could barely talk, said: �I just told them to park well and when they asked me who am I to tell them to park well I told them that I am a policeman and removed my handcuffs to show them. So when they were coming down I thought they wanted to explain something then the other kicked my legs and I fell to the ground and then they started booting me on the ground.� At the station, some policemen were furious and wanted to retaliate against the soldiers who had assaulted their colleague while others tried to restrain them. The two soldiers were arrested and brought to the Kpeshie Divisional Police Headquarters, where they identities were established. Those who wanted revenge told this reporter that the case would be brushed under the carpet like several such cases in the past where soldiers come to demand the release of the their friends or colleagues and end up assaulting police officers only for the case to be treated with kid gloves. When The Finder arrived at the police station Sunday morning, the police said the soldiers had been released. �This one, they say it is protocol so they have been released.� He gave their names but begged that the names should not be published.