L/Cpl Frederick Amanor Skalla captured on the video molesting the nursing mother
A rampaging policeman yesterday ran riot, beating up a nursing mother mercilessly at the East Legon branch of the Midland Savings and Loans Limited in Accra even as she held on to her baby and screamed loudly after each jab from her uniformed aggressor.
According to report, the aggressive and wicked cop, L/Cpl Frederick Amanor Skalla, who was wielding two guns, AK 47 and pistol, with two gotta phones as if he is the Minister of National Security, has been arrested on the orders of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu.
The spectacle made worrying viewing in the video, which went viral within minutes after the despicable occurrence courtesy of social media.
Even scary was the fact that his AK 47, a semi-automatic weapon, which could accidently discharge a fatal round when dropped, was attached to his body by a rifle sling.
He commenced his assault with an umbrella which he used to hit the nursing mother’s head then followed it up with jabs from his clenched hands.
He tried to pull the woman out of the building; the reasons for which action is yet to be determined.
According to the report, the woman got to the bank at the time it had closed to customers but having managed to enter the banking hall she insisted on withdrawing GH¢250 otherwise she was going to have a gloom weekend.
This is not a story the Ghana Police Service would be comfortable with at a time when the murder of seven persons by the local police in Kumasi is still an issue of contention in the Ashanti Regional capital.
Instructively, the IGP Asante-Apeatu was in Kumasi addressing the aftermath of the mayhem which originated from the murder of seven persons by the policemen in the Ashanti Regional Command.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that upon viewing the video on the misconduct of the cop in uniform, the IGP quickly ordered the arrest and detention of the stoutly-built cop.
The Director General of Public Affairs, ACP David Eklu, told Joy Fm that the police administration was outraged by the “highest level of unprofessional conduct by the police.”
According to him, having watched the incident some few minutes ago, the IGP instructed that the officer in the video be identified, arrested and prosecuted.
Frederick Amanor Skalla is currently behind bars.
“This is not how police officers have been trained,” ACP Eklu said, adding that the severest punishment and criminal prosecution would be meted out to him.
Frederick Amanor Skalla, according to report, was asked by officials of Midland Savings and Loan to show the nursing mother with her baby the exit for demanding her money, but the policeman decided to do it in a brutish way.
A man who saw what was happening quickly rushed to take the baby away from the mother, as the man continued to freely assault the woman; her scream not dousing his anger with no intervention from the bank officials.
At the end of the beating, he showed no remorse, oblivious of the fact that the nasty episode had been videoed and trending across the country and beyond within minutes after the incident.
Police officers, especially, shared the video on their many WhatSapp groups, many of them expressing worry about such negative stories happening in the service within these past few days – the Kumasi being in their minds.
Later reports had it that the woman was going to cash an amount of GH¢250 when she met her fate at the hands of the merciless cop.
Management of Midland Savings and Loans Limited, in a swift reaction against the backdrop of a possible PR challenge, has condemned the action of the brutality by the cop, who is attached to the operation unit of the Accra Police Command.
“We wish to render an unqualified apology to the customer in question and the general public for the uncivilized act,” the statement said.
Social media has been awash with countless negative reaction, most of them driven by the anger over the Kumasi incident.
One of such reactions reads: “If this policeman can abuse a woman like that, trust me, he can easily supply guns to armed robbers.’
The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), in a reaction to the brutality, condemned what it described as “the maltreating and assault of a helpless woman with her baby in the banking hall.
“The action of the policeman is crude, unprofessional and an affront to consumer rights, especially in these times when most financial institutions have embraced relationship-banking and best customer practices,” the statement signed by Benjamin Akoto, Head of Complaints of the CPA stressed.
By A.R. Gomda