IPNEWS: Roaming Youths and some angry commercial motorcyclists last week set ablaze a police station at the St. John River Bridge in Grand Bassa County in retaliation to a cyclist who allegedly drowned after a brief scuffle with some officers of the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA).
The victim, Justin Davis, disappeared after he reportedly jumped into the embrace of the massive St. John River while escaping an LDEA officer’s hot chase in an effort to check for illegal substances (drugs) that they believed he was conveying to his destination.
In minutes, the cyclists began gathering in their numbers to protest the disappearance of their colleague—a situation they blame on the officers. In no time, according to eyewitnesses, chaos broke out in the area, and the angry mob set the station on fire.
In addition to the police station, a police checkpoint, where officers ensured that drivers and commuters heading to and from Monrovia were checked, was also burned.
It took the intervention of officers of the Police Support Unit (PSU) to restore calm in the area after reinforcement was requested by assigned LNP officers, who were already overwhelmed.
An officer is reported to have said that he and other colleagues had stopped the victim’s motorcycle to check for banned narcotic substances after they got a tip that he was traveling with some (marijuana).
“He refused to be checked, and that’s how his arrest was ordered,” the officer is quoted as saying. “That’s how he started running to evade arrest. It was in that process that he jumped into the river.”
“After Justin jumped into the river, we only saw his head going up and down. And after a few times, he disappeared,” an eyewitness said. A search was launched but was unsuccessful.
Family members of the deceased, a father of four who resided in the New Buchanan Community, were overwhelmed with grief and could not hold back tears as they were interviewed by Ablee-Jay TV, a local media outlet. The late Justin reportedly had two fiancées.
One of the fiancées of the deceased cyclist, who only identified herself as “Babygirl,” said that she did not know her fiancé to be a seller of illegal substances. “My boyfriend has always been a bike rider. I have never seen him sell drugs.”
Narrating how she got the heartbreaking news about her boyfriend, Babygirl said, “He and I woke up this morning, and I prepared hot water for him to take a bath. He gave a hundred Liberian dollars to buy something for the children. He told me that he was going to town [Monrovia] to run traffic.”
She said a colleague of the deceased, known as Messi, “was the one who called to tell me that the police were running after Justin. I said, “Ahh!” Justin, who just left from here!”
She later made frantic efforts to get in touch with a friend of the deceased who, other colleagues said, was traveling with him to Monrovia. “It was the boy who told me that Justin jumped in the river and drowned.”
Upon visiting the police station, she said officers could not tell family members of the deceased anything but were rather taking their picture.
Justin Davis’ relatives have called on the county authorities and the national government to launch an investigation into the situation.
“I want to call on the government to find my boyfriend. I want to see him but I cannot.”
The grief-stricken mother, who could barely call her name, said her son was a major source of income for her.
According to her, the government of Liberia needs to strongly investigate the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency officers to establish the actual facts behind her son’s reported death.
