.jpeg)
A traffic police officer was knocked and killed by a speeding car as he and his team tried to clear a stalled Tuktuk on the Thika Highway in Thika.
Corporal James Mutunga was attached to the Northern Corridor Transit Patrol Unit (NCTPU) under the traffic department.
NCTPU also works with the Kenya National Highways Authority KeNHA, to manage traffic flow on the major highways.
His colleagues said Mutunga was in the company of other officials from KeNHA and had stopped to attend to a stalled Tuktuk when a speeding car hit them.
The officers usually patrol on the road among others to ensure smooth flow of traffic and attend to other issues like vandalism of road signs.
The car speeding from Kenol direction towards Thika rammed onto the Tuktuk and knocked down three other pedestrians before stalling in the Wednesday January 1 morning.
Due to the impact, the officer sustained serious injuries on the head and was rushed to Thika Level Four Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The driver of the Tuktuk was seriously injured and was undergoing treatment at the said hospital.
The KeNHA officers sustained slight injuries and both were treated and discharged in fair condition.
The body was removed to General Kago Funeral Home for an autopsy.
Both motor vehicles were towed to the post pending inspection.
The unit aims to among others to combat cargo theft and general crime along the Northern Corridor route in the country.
The move to establish the unit was part of the plan to ensure that the goods move faster after the government warned that the government would not tolerate the continued theft of goods in transit, and directed that a joint unit be constituted.
The unit replaced the Highway Patrol Unit (HPU) that was established for the same purpose but focused more on traffic issues.
Elsewhere along the Naivasha-Nairobi Highway within the Murengeti area, Tigoni, a rider died after colliding with a lorry.
Police said the driver of the lorry had failed to keep to his lane leading to the collision.
The rider sustained severe head injuries and died on the spot.
The motor vehicle and the motorcycle were towed to the station yard pending inspection.
The body was removed to the Uplands Mortuary for postmortem examination and identification.
