Truck driver crushes okada rider to death

A heavy duty truck driver has crushed a motorcycle rider to death in Lagos.

The incident happened on Tuesday at about 11.40am at Agboju bus stop along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

The motorcycle rider was said to have died on the spot, while his passenger sustained injury. A third casualty was said to be a bystander, who also survived with a fractured arm.

When PUNCH Metro arrived at the scene of the incident, eyewitnesses recounted that the deceased, who was knocked off the motorcycle by the truck driver had his skull broken.

One of the eyewitnesses, who identified himself simply as Pastor, explained that no sooner had the motorcycle rider picked his passenger than his life was cut short by the oncoming truck driver.

“What happened was that the okada man was picking a passenger by the roadside. As soon as he tried to enter the road, the truck driver, who was approaching on top speed, knocked his motorcycle off the road. The okada rider landed dangerously on the ground, hitting his head against the pavement by the side of the road. Immediate, his skull burst open and he died on the spot.

“The passenger sustained a minor injury, while a bystander who was not so lucky is currently in a private hospital receiving treatment. He had a fractured arm.

“The truck driver did not realise that he had killed someone, we had to go after him. We prevailed on the crowd not to assault him. After taking him to see the lifeless body of the victim, he pleaded with us to allow him park his truck properly which we accepted. On entering his truck, he attempted to escape. That was when people started beating him before the police came to rescue him. He is now in police custody,” he said.

Meanwhile some sympathisers at the scene of the incident took steps to see if the deceased could be identified. They stopped every motorcycle, urging the riders to see if they could identify the victim. One of the sympathisers took the deceased phone and called a woman who identified herself as the mother to the owner of the phone. She thought the phone was misplaced and urged the holder to please return it to Johnson, her son.

The mother was able to identify the deceased as Johnson from Edo State. A motorcycle rider who stopped to identify the victim lamented that the deceased would have survived had he had a helmet on.

He said, “This is one of the advantages of always putting on a helmet when driving. Had it been that he had a helmet on his head, he would have survived this accident.”

Policemen from FESTAC police station, who had earlier rescued the truck driver from the angry crowd later took the body away at about 1.15pm.