The Independent Policing Oversight Authority on Thursday, August 19, intervened following the death of a 38-year-old boda boda rider who reportedly died at the hands of police officers after being arrested for violating the dusk to dawn curfew.
The incident triggered daylong protests in Nairobi's Kayole estate where the irate residents decried police brutality. The rider, identified as John Kiiru, was reportedly arrested on the night of Wednesday, August 18.
“IPOA, today (Wednesday) received information on the death of a man at Tushauriane area of Kayole, Nairobi. Pursuant to Section 25 of IPOA Act which requires that deaths that result from police action or are caused by members of the National Police Service while on duty be investigated, the Authority launched investigations into the death today,” IPOA’s Chairperson, Anne Makori, stated in a statement.
The agency will seek to establish whether the deceased succumbed to injuries allegedly inflicted by the police officers enforcing the curfew orders.
Makori, vowed to take appropriate action should the officers involved be found culpable. She further reiterated that IPOA is committed to being independent, impartial, and fair.
The victim was riding a boda boda home when police officers reportedly apprehended him. As the scuffle ensued, the rider escaped narrowly but was nabbed by the cops shortly after.
The residents engaged police officers in day-long running battles blocking the law enforcement officers from picking the victim's body that was still lying at the scene.
The widow to the deceased, Esther Wanjiru, said that her husband called her shortly after midnight and told her that he had been arrested.
“I did not hear from him again only for his body to be found this morning," she stated.
A resident who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke on Thursday, August 19, confirmed the severity of the protest that rocked the area where the aggrieved youths engaged police in running battles.
By the time of going to press, police had not made a pronouncement on the matter.
