Traffic police officer hit by bus

JAKARTA (JP): A Hiba Utama bus hit and killed a traffic police officer in front of the Holland Bakery store on Jl. Hasyim Ashari in Central Jakarta on Tuesday morning.

Chief of Gambir Police subprecinct Comr. Nurhadi said the victim, Adj. Brig. Rohadi, 44, was also a member of the police station's motorcycle patrol.

Nurhadi, who came to see Rohadi's body at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital morgue told journalists that Rohadi was busy directing traffic at 7 a.m., when the speeding bus suddenly hit him from behind.

The father of two children died on the spot.

The bus driver, identified as Purwandri, 37, drove off immediately after hitting Rohadi. He was arrested in the Roxy area by other police officers who pursued the bus on motorcycles.

The driver said that he was driving the bus at a high speed as he was in a hurry to pick up factory employees in Cengkareng. He failed to stop the bus when he saw the police officer because the vehicle's brakes did not work.

Rohadi's wife Yulia, 33, who came to the morgue did not comment on her husband's death or the future of her two children who are both at school.(01)