- Police want to establish what role the personnel played in the drama and if they could have helped the situation
- Some of the colleagues have indicated that the officers were overwhelmed and did not expect the turn of events
Image: EZEKIEL AMINGÁ
Traffic officers who were on duty along Wangari Maathai Road when a female motorist was assaulted by bodaboda riders are among those targeted for grilling.
A team of detectives want to establish the role the officers played to stop the assault on the day it happened.
This was after the motorist and some witnesses told police that one officer arrived at the scene a few minutes before the assault happened but seemed overwhelmed or did little to save the situation.
The officers will answer questions on claims of sexual assault and robbery with violence.
Police were Thursday granted 15 days to hold the riders to enable them to complete their investigations.
It has emerged that traffic officers were not armed then, but their colleagues feel they could have sought reinforcement before the assault happened.
“We will have their statements and send them to the relevant authorities who will determine if they failed to do their job or not,” said an officer aware of the plans.
Some of the arrested riders are likely to be turned to witnesses in the incident. This will depend on what the investigators learn in the ongoing probe.
The assault happened on March 4 after a female motorist who was driving from Gigiri to Parklands was involved in an accident with a bodaboda rider at Barabara Tano junction.
As she negotiated with the victim, a group of riders arrived there and started to assault her, forcing her to drive away for her safety.
The group pursued her for a short while before they blocked her way and continued to sexually molest her. She said she lost her iPhone in the process.
Traffic police on patrol rushed to the scene and saved her. They took her to the Parklands police station, where she was asked to leave and return to the station after she had rested.
The events were captured on video which has since gone viral on social media.
Various stakeholders condemned the incident calling for action to tame the bodaboda riders who have gone rogue.
And a new video has since emerged which seems to have been taken moments before the now-viral clip of the assault that surfaced earlier in the week.
In the new footage, the woman who has since emerged to be a Zimbabwean national is still fully clothed and still has her mobile phone.
And following the drama, a major operation was launched that saw more than 1,000 riders arrested and 3,000 motorbikes confiscated.
The government has waived the Sh5,800 registration fee that the riders are supposed to pay as part of the process to get a Smart Card License to be allowed back to business.
The riders have to also belong to a Sacco and display their numbers all the time.
“It is better to forgo the money and have a reliable register of the riders,” said Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i when he announced the waiver.
Meanwhile, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority is investigating at least three incidents where bodaboda men died during the crackdown.
For instance, along Enterprise Road Nairobi, a rider died as he escaped from the police.