JEDDAH, 30 June — People who witnessed a road accident on a busy street in Jeddah the other day were shocked when they saw the traffic officer who attended the case was brazenly biased.
The accident took place on Tuesday afternoon at an intersection near Al-Bilad newspaper office.
Nawaf Nasser Al-Shehri, an engineering student, was heading east when his car rammed into a car going in the northerly direction. The other driver was a captain in the Passports Department.
The traffic police was called in and they started a formal inquiry. Both the drivers might have been equally responsible for the accident, but bystanders were surprised by the way the inquiry officer treated the parties involved.
The policeman led the Passports Department officer to his air-conditioned car and asked him to relax inside while the poor student was made to wait under the scorching sun as though he was already condemned for causing the accident.
Incensed by the unfairness of the act, one of the witnesses mustered up courage to question the policeman on his behavior.
The policeman retorted: “One should show respect to people who represent the state.”
This unnerved the youth. “Whom do I represent? Don’t I mean anything to the state?” he asked.
Boy drowns in water tank
JEDDAH, 30 June — A five-year-old boy drowned in the water tank of his house in the Mushrefa district here recently after the lid covering it gave way.
His father Abdo Mamu said an Egyptian neighbor tried to rescue the child after hearing the loud cries for help from womenfolk. The boy was taken out of the tank and rushed to hospital. The boy succumbed to his injuries later.
The accident happened while the child was returning from a nearby grocery, where he had bought ice cream.
While coming back he stepped on the lid of the water tank. The old lid came loose under his weight and fell into the tank carrying the boy along with it. Many old houses have their water tanks inside the buildings and officials have urged owners of such buildings to take additional safety precautions. (AN)
