Police officer dies in traffic accident

Police officer dies in traffic accident

JAKARTA (JP): A police sergeant from the elite Mobile Brigade
died early yesterday after his motorcycle collided with a
cigarette stand when he tried to avoid a speeding public minivan
on Jl. Raya Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta.

Second Sgt. Asep Saefudin, 22, received medical treatment at
UKI Hospital in Cawang, East Jakarta, but later died from severe
head injuries.

According to his colleagues, who flocked to the hospital,
Asep, of Jl. Batu Merah II in Kalibata district, was in uniform
and on his way to a routine morning assembly at Mobile Brigade
Headquarters in Kelapa Dua when the accident happened.

"He had just overtaken the car in front of him when he saw the
minivan speeding toward him from the opposite direction," a
colleague, I. Gusti A.N., quoted eyewitnesses as saying.

He said Asep swerved to avoid the minivan but lost control of
his motorcycle, riding up onto the sidewalk and colliding with
the stall.

"Asep must have been very sleepy as the morning assembly
requires us to be at headquarters before 6 a.m.," Gusti said.

The officer's body was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital in Central Jakarta for a postmortem examination.

His father, Utay, a retired police officer, plans to bury his
beloved son in their hometown of Ciamis, West Java, after a
funeral ceremony to be held by Asep's unit today. (emf)