Man breaks hand in scuffle with traffic cop

A 32-YEAR-OLD Rusape man, who broke his hand in a scuffle with three traffic cops at a roadblock, was yesterday arraigned before Marondera Magistrate Tatenda Makwanya, facing charges of undermining the authority of a police officer.

David Marizani was dragged to court by constables Thomas Chagonda, Advance Ndungwa and Enerst Chigumira, who accused him of insulting them and resisting arrest, resulting in him falling down and breaking his hand.

The three cops are all stationed at Wedza Police Station.

The matter was postponed to a later date pending investigations, as the accused claimed he was assaulted.

According to court papers, on March 15 this year, at around midday, Ndungwa, Chagonda and Chigumira were at Goto-Rusape turn off on traffic enforcement duty.

Marizani, who was in a commuter omnibus that was stopped by the officers, disembarked and allegedly charged towards the police officers and began shouting at them.

He allegedly told the police officers to dismantle their roadblock, saying where it was mounted was not in their area of jurisdiction.

Marizani further shouted at the police alleging they were thieves being used to feed their senior police officers' families.

It is reported that the police officers ignored the insults, but were irked when the accused allegedly began using vulgar language to insult them.

Marizani charged towards Chagonda and poked him once with a finger on the face.

The three cops then tried to arrest Marizani, who became violent, as he resisted arrest. A scuffle arose as the three officers tried to handcuff Marizani. It is reported that during the scuffle, Marizani fell and broke his left hand. A medical report was produced in court.

Emmanuel Dera represented the State.