Dear all,
 
Hi my dears. Been meaning to drop this line but its been a manic past
couple of weeks! As most of you have heard by now, I was involved in a
car accident a couple of weeks ago, and turns out, there was a scam
involved and thought it best to warn you guys so you dont end up in a
situation like mine!
 
I was driving along Argwins Kodhek road, I must have been doing about
40km/h because I'd just dropped off someone at the Shell petrol
station in Hurlingham. Just as I got outside the Barclays Bank, before
you get to Buffet Park , I suddenly saw someone rolling on my
windscreen and he landed on the side of the road. My windscreen was
all cracked. Naturally I ran out of the car to check on the person.
This was at around 11pm on Saturday night. At the same time some guy
who introduced himself as Michael came and said we need to take the
injured guy to hospital. I was panicking and was in no condition to
drive, so against my better judgement, I asked Michael (the good
samaritan) to drive my car and we dashed to Nairobi hospital. The guy
I hit, who later said his name was Simon Wanjohi, did not have serious
injuries, just a cut to his head, though he was quite drunk.
 
Once he was treated, the doctor told me to take him to Kenyatta
Hospital , because he'd been given treatment already and just needed
observation for 24 hours. I later called an ambulance and we then went
to Kenyatta Hospital to get him admitted and observed. All this time,
Michael, the good samaritan, was with me. He kept telling me there was
no need to involve the cops. When we got to Kenyatta Hospital , I
snuck out and went ahead to call the cops to report the matter.
Regardless of taking the man to hospital and all, I thought it was
prudent to get the cops involved. I went to Kilimani police station
and reported the matter. On the first look at the vehicle, the cops
said it was quite strange that both my bonnet and bumper were fine,
and they went ahead to hospital to question both the "good samaritan"
and Simon, the guy I hit.
 
Short of the long, there's a racket going on where people actually
throw themselves on the windscreens of cars, especially if the car is
not moving fast. It happens a lot along Argwins Kodhek Road . So once
someone lands on your car, they ask for monetary compensation.
 
It gets worse because the cops said I was very lucky because it could
have been worse. They said they've had an incident quite recently
where somebody was mugged and killed, and the thugs then threw the
dead body on a moving car. They then came out of the dark, dressed as
cops, and asked the driver of the car to either pay them and they'll
dump the body at City Mortuary, or the driver would be charged with
manslaughter. Kenyan law is an ass, because it doesn't matter if you
veered off the road and killed 100 people, or if someone suicidal
jumps on the road and gets themselves killed, its all the same, you
are still charged with reckless driving or manslaughter if the person
dies! Anyhow, so cops said there's a guy who had a body thrown on his
windscreen, and because he was scared of being charged with
manslaughter, he opted to pay the "cops".  So the "cops" said they
could go and get the money from the ATM, and in the meantime they put
the body of the man in his boot. They got into his car and he drove
off with the two "cops" and the dead body in his boot, to go to the
ATM so he could get  cash to pay off the "cops". When he got to the
ATM, he got out of the car to go and get the money. By coincidence,
there were some real cops on patrol, who saw the way he was shaking as
he walked to the ATM machine, and suspected there was something wrong.
They went to his car to see if there was anything dodgy, found the two
fake "cops", managed to tackle them, and they were found to have fake
guns, knives and other paraphanelia. Turns out, the thugs had mugged
and killed a man, threw him on the moving car, pretended to be cops
and asked the man to either bribe them 100K and they'd take the body
to the city mortuary and say it was a "hit and run", or they'd charge
the man with manslaughter. This man did not know the two guys were not
cops, and because  he was scared, he opted to pay them, and if it were
not for the real cops, he'd have paid off the thugs. The thugs were
probably going to dump the body somewhere or use it again to con
someone else. Anyhow, after the cops tackled the "fake cops", they
found the body of a man in the boot, and post mortem showed that  the
man died of stabbing, and not being hit by a car.
 
Anyhow, this is not to freak you out, but just be careful when
driving. When driving at night, especially along deserted roads, drive
as fast as you can, but still be careful. If you hit someone, its
better to go to the nearest police station, report the matter, and
come back to the scene with cops. Driving around Nairobi has become
very unsafe, so be careful.