UNMASKED: Police officer caught on camera brutalizing unarmed man now identified
The police officer who was captured on camera stamping on a helpless man is a Corporal attached to Nairobi’s Industrial Area police station.
Officers who know him and who spoke to the Sunday Nation also said he is designated as a driver.
Moreover, the officer is elderly and almost the 60-year retirement age.
Official police report on the matter said: “The Police officer captured on a video clip assaulting an individual has been positively identified and is being processed for disciplinary action.”
The police report also appealed to the public with aim of gathering evidence against the officer.
In the video the police officer is seen standing with his feet on the back and neck of the hapless victim lying prostrate on the ground.
“Enda chini! (Go lower!)” he shouts at the suspect as he repeatedly applies pressure using his police boots on the man’s neck and back while supporting himself by holding onto a vehicle parked nearby.
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The officer then proceeds to kick the subdued man’s head several times in the clip that lasted 1 minute and 37 seconds.
Throughout the duration of the video, another man who seems to be a fellow police officer and a security firm guard witness the assault without attempting to stop him.
It is not clear what the victim’s offence was but the officer’s instructions to the suspect indicate he was already under arrest.
On Twitter, Kenyans had a lot to say.
“This is an unarmed guy caught by a cop on Londiani Road off Likoni Rd, Industrial Area. Seems like the cop didn’t want to shoot him but wanted to cut his oxygen off through a not so clever way. This is brutality and makes it hard for us who support police work,” wrote blogger Robert Alai.
In a rejoinder that seems calculated to mitigate the online backlash to the video, a day before the officer was identified, National Police Service assured Kenyans it would review the video with a view to taking action against the offending officer.
GRAPHIC: What crime could he have committed? pic.twitter.com/7aluYpfM1i
— Kenfrey Kiberenge (@KenKiberenge) April 6, 2018
“Our attention has been drawn to a video clip circulating in the social media of a police officer allegedly assaulting an individual. We do not approve of it. We are reviewing the video clip to verify its authenticity and shall take stern action against the officer once proven,” read the NPS Tweet.
Many other Kenyans have reacted furiously to the video, terming the police officer’s reaction inhumane.
“Take action on this officer. It’s inhuman, and the officer should have taken him into custody if he had committed a crime,” wrote Eliza Irungu.
Others condemned the act as a result of tendencies that officers were allowed to maintain by the law enforcement system.
“This is what the system has conditioned them to do. If they didn’t have the support of the system they couldn’t have that courage to dehumanise fellow men,” Peter Zena wrote.
Kipkoech Rotich demanded for the arraignment of the officer in court.
“No no, whoever is caught on camera assaulting (another person) must be charged in the court of law,” Rotich tweeted.
The Sunday Nation is yet to establish whether the assault indeed took place on Likoni Road, or whether the suspect was treated for his injuries before being booked in a police station at the end of the assault ordeal.