Wife cries racism after injured husband's arrest

A man in Limassol was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday night after he was kicked off his scooter, with police arresting him and two others while his wife accused perpetrators and officials of racism as she made a desperate plea on social media.

(Click here for an update to the story)

Police said three adult males were detained Thursday early morning at Limassol General Hospital where an officer was called to respond to an incident an hour after midnight.

According to police, an officer went to the Emergency Room where a number of individuals were shouting. The law enforcement agent asked them to leave and they did, an official report said.

As some individuals were leaving and entering a vehicle parked outside, “one of them started cursing at the officer as well as the doctor on duty,” police said.

The vehicle started to move while at the same time the police officer reached for the curser through an open door, telling him he was under arrest for cursing. A police incident report said the law enforcement agent was dragged some 90 meters before the car came to a halt.

Wife tells different story

But the man’s wife gave a different version of events, saying both the police officer and a state medic were hostile towards her husband.

In a desperate plea on social media, local resident Katy Kpoghomou said her husband was rushed to the hospital after he was thrown to the ground, adding that people there refused to allow her man to view the X-Rays.

According to local sources, 32-year-old Guinean national Nestor Kpoghomou was on his way to work in Limassol on Wednesday night when he was kicked off his scooter during an incident just before 10pm.

Reports said local bikers approached Kpoghomou, a father of two, and kicked him off his scooter, while an eye witness reportedly saw what happened and rushed to the man’s aid.

According to Katy, who is white, people who later showed up at the hospital were friends of others who earlier had been hostile to her husband, who is black.

“They came to beat us up, they were kicking them in front of the police, they threw them to the ground and they took the side of the doctor,” Katy said in her video that she recorded outside the local station, while alleging that the police officer took the attackers’ side.

“Cops arrested my husband and two others but they won’t let me,” she said, referring to what she described as a refusal by the police to allow her to make a statement and report damages to her vehicle.

“My husband is crying,” she said, adding that “we never did anyone any harm.”

Earlier this year, the mixed couple’s home was shot at by a neighbor when both husband and wife were inside the residence with their two young children.

CID Limassol prosecuted a 55-year-old neighbor on a dozen charges but half of them were dropped, with the shooter still being sentenced to six years in prison.

“At last, after one year and a tough court [battle] we have been vindicated,” Katy wrote on Facebook in January, some nine months after the shooting incident.

Police confirmed that a total of three individuals were arrested on Thursday, referring to the husband and two others in their mid-20’s who were detained after more officers arrived on the scene.

According to police, the husband was detained because he “lashed out and punched the police officer after the car came to a complete stop.”

But the wife, who had gone to the hospital with another person to pick the three up, says her husband was trying to protect her.

“They destroyed my car, they hit me on the head,” Katy said.

It was not immediately clear what were the individual charges for the two other suspects, who were also said to be from Africa.

A police report said there were multiple offences under investigation in the case, including insulting a public servant, assaulting a police officer, aggravated assault, reckless behavior and acts of negligence.

CID Limassol is investigating the case.