A 38-year-old boda boda rider is nursing wounds after suffering gunshot wounds allegedly inflicted by a police officer.
The victim was allegedly shot by a police officer after offering to ferry the officer and an apprehended suspect to Gioto Police Post in Nakuru County.
In the Sunday night incident, the victim recounts being at the wrong place at the wrong time after transporting a client. As he was preparing to return home, a scuffle ensued, and police officers at the scene apprehended one suspect.
According to the victim, who was identified as Felix, the officers asked him to transport one of them using his motorcycle alongside the suspect.
Midway through the trip, Felix recounts asking to make a brief stop at his house, leaving the officer and the suspect with his motorcycle. "As I was crossing the road, I heard a loud bang and realised I had been shot. I wondered why the officer shot me while we had an agreement," he recounted.
Somehow, the victim dragged himself to his house while bleeding, where he found his wife, who immediately called on neighbours for help.
"He fell on top of me on the bed. I looked at him and noticed he was bleeding, and that's when I called the neighbours for help," Felix's wife recalled.
Boda boda operators say they are always harassed by police officers from the same station.
"Harassment from police officers has been on the rise, especially from that one police station," one resident lamented. "I remember in November another youth was shot as he was passing by the station."
Residents claim such incidents are usually muffled by authorities, presumably to avoid negative publicity and controversy.
The incident was eerily similar to one from August 2024, which saw a tuk-tuk ride turn into a potentially deadly situation after a passenger, who happened to be a plain-clothed officer, got into an altercation with his driver.
Amid the chaos, the officer drew his service weapon and fired two shots, one of which struck a 28-year-old passenger.
