Police Officer Killed by a High-Speed Truck in Waterloo Laid to Rest

Waterloo Police has given a befitting burial to a fallen colleague, Chief-Inspector Samuel Bai Kargbo, popularly known as Sami Lapses.

The traffic officer was hit and killed by a high-speed truck while performing lawful duties at the notorious 555 junction, Lumpa, Waterloo. He was laid to eternal rest at Kossoh Town cemetery in the outskirts of Freetown on Sunday, May 14, 2023.

Chief-Inspector Sami Lapses was enlisted in the Sierra Leone Police Force in 1990 and worked diligently in various departments, units, regions, and districts. He rose through the ranks to the highly-coveted recently reintroduced Chief-Inspector position.

Before his death, Sami Lapses served humanity selflessly as a Formed Police Unit peacekeeper in Somalia, the world’s most war-torn country.

According to the Waterloo Police Division Media Team, witnesses at the scene of the accident testified that Sami Lapses did not die out of his own lapses, rather, he died while attempting to save a female pedestrian from being hit by the high-speed truck whose brakes had collapsed.

“Sami Lapses laid his own life, saving that of another. History will fondly remember him as the Police Officer who served and protect to the detriment of his own life,” they noted.

Sami Lapses’ death has left a noticeable void at the 555 junction, Lumpa, Waterloo, particularly as the third term of the academic school year has just begun.

According to the Waterlool Police Media, he was known to assist school-going children, the aged, and the physically challenged to cross the busy junction safely. It remains to be seen whether the absence of traffic police at the notorious junction is in solidarity with their fallen colleague or otherwise.

The Divisional Traffic Officer (DTO) of Waterloo Division, DSP Mr. Moses Malcolm Kailie, described Sami Lapses as the most committed and down-to-earth Police officer he had ever come across in his nearly 40 years of service.

The hundreds of commercial transport workers, including Kekeh, okada, and poda-poda drivers who attended Sami Lapses’ funeral, spoke volumes of the man whom many believed was the “best traffic police in Waterloo.”

The Waterloo Police has lost a dedicated and committed officer. May the soul of Chief-Inspector Samuel Bai Kargbo, alias Sami Lapses, who died in the service of humanity, rest in peace