Residents of Ugunja scampered for safety on Friday
after a senior police officer unleashed a Ceskar pistol and threatened to shoot a motorist.
Ugunja Deputy OCS Florence Nelima brandished the gun after a matatu driver obstructed the vehicle she was using to learn how to drive.
Drama unfolded when the officer, under training at Imperial Driving School,
tried to get on the busy Kisumu-Busia road at a junction in Ugunja town.
The driver of the matatu, that was heading towards Kisumu town, stopped abruptly to pick a passenger, blocking her entrance.
Nelima immediately unfastened her belt, alighted from the vehicle and pulled out her weapon, to the bewilderment of the instructor.
Dressed in a black trouser and pink blouse, she marched to the matatu and threatened to shoot the driver.
“You do not know that I am a police officer ... I am ready to shoot. Why do you cause me pressure?”
The matatu driver took off as people ran to safety, saying Nelima turned the gun their way while returning to the instructor's vehicle.
She drove towards Busia.
Residents termed Nelima "rogue" and demanded her transfer while her senior colleagues, who sought anonymity, said she had brandished her weapon before.
Reached for comment,
Ugunja police boss Samuel Koskey neither confirmed nor denied that the incident took place.
He referred reporters to the OCS but she was unavailable.
Reports indicated that she had been summoned.