Offbeat: Guinean police officer jumps on car to stop driver

During his commute to work, one of our Guinean Observers witnessed a strange sight: a policeman riding on the hood of a car in the capital, Conakry. The police officer resorted to this rather extreme technique in an attempt to force the driver to pull over. According to our Observer, this type of situation is not so unusual in his city.

Video published on Mohamed Mouctar Dannah Condé's Facebook page. 

Mohammed Mouctar Dannah Condé, who filmed this video, told us:

I was in the Kaloum neighbourhood, one of downtown Conakry’s business districts. The police had set up a barrier at an intersection, but the driver of the red car forced his way through it. The police officer then jumped on the car’s hood in an attempt to force the driver to stop.

 

Since my wife was driving, I began filming the police officer. I rolled down my window and said, ‘Officer, you’re very dedicated to your work, aren’t you?’ That made him laugh, but he was still very embarrassed. In the end, another officer on a motorcycle managed to stop the rogue motorist…

 

This might seem like just a one-off situation, but it is unfortunately very common in Guinea. The problem is that most police officers stop drivers for alleged violations, but they just want to ask for bribes, after which they release the drivers. People therefore do not respect the traffic police and rarely stop to listen to their orders, even when they are doing this for good reasons, as was the case here.