Assin Atonsu – C/R: Prison officers beat taxi driver to pulp over who had right of way

A 53-year-old taxi driver identified as Essien Antwi is currently battling for his life at the St. Francis Xavier Hospital at Assin Fosu in the Central Region.

This follows severe beatings meted out to him by some prison officers who were among prison service personnel numbering about 20 and were traveling to the Upper East Region for a funeral celebration.

The officers were traveling in a University of Cape Coast’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Sciences vehicle with Registration Number GE-2893-22.

Eyewitnesses speaking to Onua News disclosed that the prison officers were traveling from Cape Coast to the Assin Fosu direction of the road while the driver behind the cab with registration number GW-9112-12 was moving on the opposite direction.

On reaching Assin Atonsu township, there was a broken-down fuel tanker occupying one side of the way leaving all the vehicles from both ends to use the remaining side of the road.

This means one vehicle had to stop for the other and in an instance where the taxi driver who had passengers onboard thought it was safe for him to go, the prison officers insisted the taxi driver should rather stop for them to go.

This resulted in an intense altercation between the prison officers and the driver and, in the process, three personnel of the prison service jumped out of their vehicle and subjected the driver to severe beatings.

The driver, who went unconscious amid profuse mouth bleeding was rushed to the St. Francis Xavier Hospital by some bystander drivers for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, an officer who did not disclose his identity, explained that the taxi driver rather attacked the service personnel when they confronted him to move his vehicle to pave the way for them.

In this view, a team of police officers led by the Central North Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent Daniel Kwabena Darko, and the District Commander, ASP Jacob Kumedzro visited the victim at the hospital to ascertain the degrees of the injuries.

To unravel the circumstances surrounding the whole incident, some officers of the prison service were detained but were later released on police inquiry to allow further investigations into the matter.