20-year-old phone dealer drives over a police officer

NIGERIA – A 20-year-old phone seller, Olusola Olumide, has narrated how he allegedly crushed a police sergeant to death during a stop-and-search operation in Lagos.

The incident occurred on September 26, 2026, at about 2:20 p.m., along Olugbede Street, Egbeda, Lagos State, when police officers on stop-and-search duty signalled a Lexus ES 350, with registration number FKJ 223 KX, driven by Olumide, to stop.

According to a police source, the driver initially stopped but suddenly sped off as Sergeant Johnson Okediji approached the driver’s side of the vehicle.

The officer was reportedly knocked down and dragged underneath the vehicle for several metres despite repeated attempts by police officers and passers-by to make the driver stop. The driver was eventually chased and arrested.

The sergeant sustained multiple fractures and head injuries. He was taken to a nearby hospital and later referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Olumide, while narrating his account of the incident, said the vehicle’s brakes failed and that he accidentally ran over the officer.

He said: “My car brake failed and I accidentally ran over the officer. I was about to park, but there was a slip and I hit a car in front of me. He was in front, and I couldn’t stop the car. I have been using the vehicle for a month.

I took the car to the mechanic to change the brake pad, and he told me that he had changed it. The next day, I went to buy fuel before I saw the officers. The police officers know me, and they know I didn’t do it deliberately. I regret hitting an officer of the law. I’m pained that he’s dead.”