For the second time in three weeks, police officers at Onireke Police Station in Lagos have assaulted Ebuka Umeh, a Nigerian youth, for driving a car with tinted glasses despite presenting a permit.

Umeh told FIJ that he was driving his sick father, a stroke patient, to Emel Hospital in Festac for a medical appointment scheduled for 10am on FRiday when the policemen ordered him to park and arrested him for no obvious reason.

“The policemen ordered me to drive to their station, which was nearby, but I questioned one of them to know why I was asked to drive to their station since I was not guilty of anything, but they were mute,” Umeh told FIJ.

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Umeh, who was careful in his approach because he was desperate to get his father to the hospital before time ran out, drove to the police station to avoid causing a scene. From about 9:45 am, he was in their custody for hours, eventually missing the medical appointment.

“Immediately we got to the station, they requested my car papers and license and I presented them. After that, they ordered me to open my boot, which I did. But I became uncomfortable with how they searched the boot. They told me to stop looking at them and it appeared as though they wanted to put an exhibit in my car,” he said.

As they searched, Umeh brought out his iPhone X to film the policemen. Immediately the policemen saw him, one of them charged forward, slapped him twice, smashed the phone on the floor, and dragged him into the station, aided by six other policemen.

“I knew things could go sour after one of them smashed my phone. I had to explain to them that my dad was diabetic, hypertensive, and had a stroke. I told them that my dad had hinted that his condition was deteriorating two days ago and this is why we needed to see the doctor today, but no one cared to understand,” he explained.

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Three weeks ago, Umeh had a similar issue with the same policemen where he paid N10,000 before they let him go. Although he did not remind them, he pleaded with them to let him go just for the sake of his father.

“After I entered the station, I asked if I could see the Divisional Police Officer (DPO, CSP Smith), but seeing him worsened the situation. He immediately profiled me as an internet fraudster when he saw me. Hearing that I attempted to make a video, the DPO asked that I write a statement.

“While writing my statement, the policeman who slapped me tried to sway me into writing something implicating, but I wrote exactly what happened.”

Umeh, who saw his father groaning in pains, asked the DPO if anyone could drive his father to the hospital while he remained in their custody, but the DPO asked Umeh if he hired any of the policemen as a driver.