The policeman involved in last Saturday’s shooting incident at the Derby Avenue branch of Cal Bank has been detained.
This is to enable investigations into the incident which involved the policeman and a customer of the bank.
Corporal Bernard Frimpong, is said to have fired his AK 47 rifle at the banking hall repeatedly following a confrontation with the customer, named as Nathaniel Nortey.
Three persons, including Nortey were wounded as a result of the incident.
According to the police, Corporal Frimpong is on detention at the Accra Regional Police Command.
A team of senior police officers Monday morning visited the scene to get firsthand information.
The police said Corporal Frimpong’s action got people injured and that his detention was to enable investigations into allegations of misconduct against him.
DSP Freeman Tettey, in charge of Public Affairs at the Regional Command said it was necessary to visit the bank and get hold of the CCTV footage of the incident as part of investigations.
Management of the bank at the Derby Avenue branch has asked the police to apply officially to their head office for the request on the CCTV footage to be considered.
DSP Tettey said the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) unit has also waded into the incident and that the investigation was in two forms.
Whilst the Regional Command was looking at the criminal aspect, PIPS was looking at the issue of misconduct on the part of the policeman.
He described the incident as a mishap and explained that it was likely that by midweek the police should have a positive response from the bank on the CCTV recordings.
On Monday morning, there were three armed police officers at the premises of the bank. It was explained that normally, there are two men on guard but because of what happened last Saturday, an additional officer has been added.
Background
DSP Tettey said initial reports received by the police indicated that the shooting incident resulted from a confrontation between the policeman stationed at the Derby Avenue branch of Cal Bank and Nortey.
He said Nortey entered the banking hall minutes after he had parked his car at an unauthorised spot.
After Nortey was asked to park his car properly, he told the private security man that he would not be long in the banking hall.
After a while, the private security man realised that Nortey was standing at a corner in the banking hall and was not performing any transaction. He, therefore, went and informed the policeman on duty .
DSP Tettey said it was at this juncture that Nortey went outside the bank to the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) area but returned shortly without doing anything.
The policeman then confronted Nortey and asked him to move his car from the place he had parked it.
CCTV images
According to DSP Tettey, during the confrontation Nortey slapped the policeman and attempted to take his gun, adding that “during the struggle the gun went off and in the process injured Nortey and two other customers in the bank”.
He said although Nortey denied the report, the police were making frantic efforts to retrieve the CCTV images from the management of the Derby Avenue branch of Cal Bank to facilitate their investigation.
Asked what would be the next line of action from the police if the footage from the CCTV revealed otherwise, DSP Tettey said the police would not hesitate to arrest the policeman on duty.