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Crime Reporter

A policeman was killed on Saturday morning after he was knocked down by a commuter omnibus while manning a roadblock along Simon Mazorodze Road near Ushewokunze in Harare.

The commuter omnibus, which had been hit by a Yutong bus that had failed to stop at the roadblock at around 5am, then collided with a Honda Fit before swerving and hitting the police officer who died on admission at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident.

“The ZRP warns motorists against speeding especially when approaching checkpoints and roadblocks. This follows a fatal road traffic accident which occurred on October 2, 2021 around 5.03am at a police roadblock near Ushewokunze turn-off, along Simon Mazorodze Road, where a police officer manning the roadblock died.

“A man aged 26 driving a Yutong bus failed to stop at the roadblock due to speeding and hit a Toyota Hiace vehicle which in turn collided with a Honda Fit vehicle. As a result, the Toyota Hiace vehicle swerved and knocked down a police officer, who later died upon admission to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital,” he said.

This is not the first time that a police officer  has been killed in the line of  on duty.

Last year, a policeman doing traffic enforcement duties near Simon Muzenda Street bus terminus (formerly Fourth Street) died after he was run over by a Mitsubishi Canter truck as he was trying to arrest the driver for picking up passengers at an undesignated place.

It is alleged that the policeman confronted the driver who then hit the policeman and he died on the spot.

The driver then sped off and was not caught.

In August 2017, a 49-year-old policeman died after he was knocked down by a haulage truck along the Chegutu-Chinhoyi Road while attending to his vehicle that had been involved in a road traffic accident.

Meanwhile, police are appealing for information which may assist in the identification of a man who was knocked down by a car along Samora Machel Avenue, near the Zimbabwe Agricultural Showgrounds on Sunday at around 8:20pm. The man died on the spot and the body was taken to a local hospital mortuary.

Anyone missing their relative can contact any nearest police station.