A devastated father brawled with an Albanian police commissioner on the beach after a police boat rammed his 7-year-old British daughter and killed him.
Jonada Avdia, a British citizen, was killed on Tuesday when she was hit by the propeller of a speedboat on Albania’s Potam beach while playing in the ocean. According to information, the boat was driven by officer Arjan Tase off-duty.
When Tase beached his boat immediately after the fatal accident, her father, Bedlar Avdia, confronted his daughter’s alleged killer and a fight ensued, photos shared by former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Daily Mail reported about it.
It is alleged that the police drove the boat into waters reserved for swimmers only.
“I was swimming on the beach with my daughter when I saw a white boat with two people on board,” Albanian-born Avdia told local news agencies.
According to him, the boat stopped for a short time on the shore where a woman got off and more women and children boarded the boat before taking off in the direction of her and her daughter.
“He came in our direction and hell came fast and separated me and the girl,” he said
“I went under the water and the boat hit my daughter’s engine compartment and cut her all over.”
Elbasan police chief Tase was later arrested and was due to appear in court in Vlora on Friday.
Investigators claim that police were driving family members from Porto Palermo to Potama (about 5 miles away) when the accident happened.
Tase plowed through an area clearly marked with buoys for swimmers to let off family members before striking young Jonada just 15 feet from the shoreline, law enforcement officials said.
The boat’s propellers “caused serious injuries with immediate loss of life,” a police spokesman told local sources.
The Daily Mail reports that Tase is charged with “negligent manslaughter” along with 15 police officers who were supposed to be guarding the beach on the day they were fired.
The incident sparked protests in the capital, Tirana, where demonstrators demanded the resignation of the country’s Interior Minister Bledar Čuči, the director general of the provincial police, Gladys Nanos, and the Minister of Tourism, Mirela Kumbaro. Albania Daily reported on this.
kumbaro awning Albania Daily he blames Tase for the tragedy and demands the maximum sentence in his case.
“An angel is no longer with us because of the stupidity of one man who broke every law, every rule and every norm with tragically irreversible consequences,” he said.
“Realizing that there are no words that can comfort the parents and the family because of the tragedy, he appeals to justice with the maximum punishment without compromise to anyone who violates the law.
The head of the Democratic Party of Albania, Sali Berisha, claimed that the boat was previously used for drug trafficking.
