A yet-to-be-identified male adult, suspected to be a thief, was found unconscious on Sunday after being knocked down by a hit-and-run driver in the Abule Egba area of Lagos State.
The incident occurred on Friday morning.
Reports indicate that the suspect had broken into an apartment in the community during the early hours of Friday when some residents spotted him.
To avoid capture, he reportedly fled, and some residents pursued him.
While attempting to escape the area, he ran into the expressway and was struck by a speeding vehicle.
According to The PUNCH, a visit to the community on Sunday found the suspect still lying unconscious by the roadside near the Abule Egba bridge, with swollen eyes and bruises on his body.
A trader, Ganiyat Enitan, who owns a shop near the bridge said that the accident victim had remained at the spot since the incident occurred.
She said, “We met him there on Friday morning and he has been there since then. We were told that he was caught scaling a fence at midnight and those who saw him decided to chase him. He was trying to run across to the other side when he ran into a vehicle that knocked him down.”
Upon closer inspection, our correspondent found that the suspect was still breathing, with his legs moving at intervals.
Another local business owner, who identified himself only as Sesan, said the man was initially lying on the bridge walkway before he rolled into the main road.
“We saw him this morning on the main road. It was later that some LASTMA officials came to put a tyre behind him as a caution to prevent vehicles from climbing him.”
Meanwhile, a transport worker, Saheed Adekunle, urged the state government to remove the man from the spot to prevent further accidents.
He said, “We want the state government to come and remove him from here. If he spends more time on the road where he is now, I’m sure he will be crushed by a vehicle. The tyre LASTMA put there is not enough to stop that. Those trucks you see drive roughly and often climb the walkway. So, how much more on the road where he’s lying.”
All calls made on Sunday to the spokesperson for the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, Nosa Okunbor, went unanswered, and a text message sent to him had not been replied to at the time of this report.
