A special investigation team set up by the Liberian national police (LNP) to probe the February 21, rioting by the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) has released its findings to authorities in Monrovia, clearing Hassan Fadiga of all charges.
What began as a heated argument between the Liberian Drug Enforcement Agency’s former deputy director Hassan Fadiga and an AFL officer identified as Staff Sergeant Joseph Broah in Moiba Town, Paynesville, eventually turned into uncontrollable violence that brought Paynesville City to a partial standstill.
In a statement to the police, the army officer SSGT Broah accused Hasan Fadiga of using pepper spray to attack him during the standoff. Staff Sergeant Broah also alleged sustaining an injury on his hand when Fadiga attempted to handcuff him.
Following months of investigation, LNP team from the crime services division said it found no evidence of the charges brought against Fadiga by the AFL personnel.
According to the findings submitted to the deputy inspector general of police, Simeon F. Frank, there was no sign of pepper spray liquid or stain on the vehicle in which Sergeant Broah was seated when he was pepper-sprayed by the former LDEA deputy director.
The investigation indicated further that the bruises were not caused by an attempt to hang off the army officer as alleged by Sergeant Broah. It disclosed that the injury was sustained as a result of the banging of Fadiga’s vehicle’s back windshield by Broah.
The investigation further accused Senior AFL medical staff assigned at the 14th Military Hospital of ‘misleading the public with a false medical report blaming the bruises to an attempt to handcuff Broah.’
The police investigation team, therefore, recommended to the authorities that charges against Fadiga be dropped, while Sergeant Broah and Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Kollie and other military officers be identified, disrobed and forwarded to court for prosecution.
Meanwhile, the LNP has officially issued Hassan Fadiga a clearance from all charges brought against him by the army.