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RIVERS: Man meets early death while trying to escape police arrest

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Tragedy struck in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital when a young man identified simply as Oge met his untimely death while trying to evade police arrest.

He drowned in the Elechi River in his bid to evade officers of the law.

Reports say the young man was hanging out with his friends when suddenly policemen stormed the area shooting sporadically and in the process forced everyone to scamper in different directions for safety.

The victim who could not swim reportedly ran into the river to escape the approaching policemen where he drowned.

His body was later recovered from the river by angry youths who later took his corpse to the Diobu Police Division and later to the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, where the victim was confirmed dead.

Recounting the incident, an eyewitness who declined to be named said the victim who could not swim jumped into the river out of fear.

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The witness said; “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.”

The incident was confirmed by Mr Nnamdi Omoni, the state Police Public Relations Officer who said the police officers were after suspected armed robbers and not the victim who dived into the river.

Omoni 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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