Two police officers have been suspended following an incident in which they roughed up a man in a Kasarani bar only to discover later that the man was their superior.
After an altercation sparked by a woman smoking in the bar, Constables Marwa Matiko and Charles Maina allegedly harassed Mr Jackson Owino, the Kayole DCIO.
Mr Owino had taken his car to Seasons Lounge for a wash on March 26, according to a police report. While at the bar, he approached the woman, Elizabeth Wangari, who was smoking in a no-smoking zone.
Mr Owino then asked her to stop smoking, but she responded with insults, saying “you should know people” before storming out.
She later retuned, accompanied by constables Matiko and Maina donning police uniform, and civilian clothes respectively.
One of the officers was cradling a Scorpion rifle in his arms.
CCTV footage obtained by the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) shows officer Matiko pointing his rifle at Mr.Owino more than once. Another view shows them walking into the frame, pushing and shoving him around, and standing in the center of the bar.
Mr.Owino is seen taking out his wallet and flipping what appears to be a card, but the two ignore him and continue harassing him. He is then wrestled to the ground while officer Maina handcuffs him.
“The said PC Matiko went ahead to walk out of the bar and fired four 9mm rounds from his Scorpion rifle,” stated the report.
According to investigations, Mr.Owino was disarmed of his Ceska Pistol and marched to the police station while being roughed up. As they walked into the station, Matiko is said to have fired two rounds into the air with the retrieved Ceska pistol.
In a turn of events, the two ended up being thrown into the cell after another senior officer recognized Mr.Owino who was a former DCIO at the same station.
Meanwhile, further investigations are underway to determine the fate of the two officers.
