DUBAI, 17 January 2008 — A government department in Dubai has suspended two of its employees after they posted on YouTube a horrific video of a policeman being hit by a speeding car.
The behavior of the two employees has caused public outrage. One of them made sarcastic comments during the disturbing footage, which showed the policeman walking to his patrol car at the airport after assisting some accident victims.
A voice dubbed over the footage can be heard saying: “Look at the way he is walking; he thinks he’s in a park.” Then the voice goes into laughter. A second later a speeding black four-wheel vehicle slams into the policeman from the back and the impact throws his body several feet away. The Yemeni-born policeman died a few hours later.
The footage had been filmed from the Operation Room of the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) using a mobile phone. Then it was distributed using Bluetooth technology and posted on the popular video-sharing website.
It is not clear if the police have taken action against the two employees.
A post at the site by a person claiming to be a police officer stated that the police have filed a criminal case against the two employees. The police, however, refused to comment. The post also claims that the policeman was named Abu Ahmad and is survived by his wife and children living in Dubai. Abu Ahmad had been working for the traffic police for the past 20 years.
In an official statement, the authority expressed concern over the incident. The RTA expressed deep regret to the family of the deceased policeman for this conduct.
Kawther Kazim, director of Human Resources and Development at the RTA, stated that this behavior is a matter of personal conduct and insubordination deplored by the authority.
“The concerned employees have been referred to internal investigation and have been subjected to severe punishments in accordance with the provisions of Dubai HR Law 27/2006. A high-level delegation from the RTA will visit the family of the deceased policeman to offer condolences and apologies of the RTA for this irresponsible behavior of those employees,” said Kazim.
She added that all systems of the RTA are subject to measures and controls that prevent leakage of any information from the control room. “The RTA will take even more severe actions should such behavior be repeated,” said Kazim.
