Thursday, March 28, 2024

Day drunk driver knocked down four residents in Ogun

In ancient Rome, the festival of Bacchus, the god of wine and intoxication, was celebrated on March 16 and 17 with revelry, but the attempt by a man in Denro, Akute area of Ogun State to rekindle the spirit of this Roman god 10 days earlier, almost resulted in a tragedy.

Drunk driver, simply identified as Wasiu, did not bargain for the beating he got last Friday, when after leaving a beer parlour dead drunk, he jumped behind the wheel of his car and, within 10 minutes, knocked down four residents of the area.

It all started at about 8pm like one of those Nollywood films, when in his attempt to pull out his car from where he had parked it, Wasiu hit and damaged a Nissan jeep. It took about 20 minutes of pleading from several people before the owner of the vehicle pardoned Wasiu for bashing his car.

As if that was not enough, as groggy Wasiu was leaving the scene, he knocked down a commercial motorcyclist, popularly called okada, and seriously injured the rider, who immediately fainted due to the impact of the accident. The victim was revived by passers by and residents, who also took him to the hospital.

But the drunk driver, who, perhaps, had now become sober, drove recklessly away from the scene to escape being held responsible for the accident. Some residents of the area, however, gave his car a hot chase.

And in his desperate bid to get away, Wasiu, again, knocked down another resident, this time a young boy, who also sustained serious injuries.

As the residents were forced to give up the chase to attend to his new victim, who they quickly revived and rushed to the nearest clinic, Wasiu increased the speed of his reckless driving and knocked down yet another okada rider along with the passenger he was carrying.

This last accident was the drunk driver’s waterloo as the victims and their motorcycle got stuck under his car and had to be pulled out, making it impossible for him to try to make any form of escape bid.

With this Catch-22 situation Wasiu now found himself, he was caught by the angry mob, who almost lynched him. He was given the beating of his life, especially by the okada riders, who were determined to take a pound of their flesh from him for knocking down and injuring two of their colleagues within the same street.

As the residents were forced to give up the chase to attend to his new victim, who they quickly revived and rushed to the nearest clinic, Wasiu increased the speed of his reckless driving and knocked down yet another okada rider along with the passenger he was carrying

In the process, Wasiu, too, fainted and was only revived by good Samaritans, who poured several buckets of cold water on him. His body was filled with bruises from the injuries inflicted on him by the angry mob.

It took the intervention of police operatives from the Adigboluja Police Division in the state to rescue him from being lynched by the mob.

By the time the policemen arrived at the scene, Wasiu was lying unconscious and almost lifeless. The mob also seized his car, but later released it to the policemen, who took it away from the scene.

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