Two suspended Ekurhuleni metro police officers arrested for assault and allegedly interfering with a colleague’s duties would be freed on Thursday to allow further investigation, prosecutors said.
The two are part of a trio who are suing Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride for harassment, discrimination and constructive dismissal. They were arrested after an altercation during a routine vehicle check on Wednesday.
Gauteng’s director of public prosecutions, Caren de Beer, said she agreed with the decision by the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court’s senior prosecutor not to place the matter on the court roll.
”Various dockets were opened regarding this incident and I have only received one. I have asked the police to investigate and to obtain all the dockets,” she said.
Meanwhile, the men would be freed and could be called back later.
Ekurhuleni metro police spokesperson Wilfred Kgasago said McBride had to be called out to help control the situation, which escalated after the two were stopped on Rondebult Road in Boksburg on Wednesday for driving a car with tinted windows.
The check was as part of ”Operation Small Axe”, which focuses on vehicles without number plates and with tinted windows. Under the Road Traffic Act it is illegal to drive with windows darkened beyond a certain extent, and vehicles may be impounded for this infraction, Kgasago explained. This is so that the occupants of a vehicle can be seen and that they can see out.
‘Extremely aggressive’
”The driver adopted an extremely aggressive behaviour against the officer,” read Kgasago’s statement. ”After the driver had been on the cellphone, out of the blue, people — some of whom later identified themselves as SAPS [South African Police Service] members — swarmed, snarled, abused and obstructed the metro police officer in the execution of his duties.
”The latter called for back-up and the two officers on suspension were arrested. With the arrival of assistance for the officers in distress, the situation was brought under control. Some of those who had interfered offered apologies and the two suspended officers were led away to Boksburg central police station where charges were laid.”
He denied a radio report in which the men’s lawyer said McBride had threatened to shoot them.
”He did come on the scene and he managed to quell the situation. People who say that [that he threatened to shoot] have an agenda and they are putting up a smokescreen. No chance,” he said, adding that weapons were not drawn either.
Kgasago continued that their lawyer alleged that they had been assaulted, but said this was untrue. ”Only one of them was handcuffed and the other was walked to the patrol car. Actually it was one of our officers who sustained cuts on his face and a swollen face as a result of physical assault by one of the suspended officers.”
He said the department has ”concrete evidence” from the closed-circuit television of a nearby Sasol filling station, as well as still and video clips recorded by other officers on the scene.
On December 21 last year, McBride crashed his car on the R51 near Centurion after attending a function. Witnesses on the scene told newspapers they believed he was intoxicated, an allegation he has denied. They also said that they had been assaulted by metro officers.
Stanley Segathevan, Patrick Johnstone and Ithumeleng Koko allegedly removed McBride from the scene without following procedure. They have since been suspended from the department and are reportedly suing McBride for R1,5-million each for harassment, discrimination and constructive dismissal.
Kgasago said that although the suspension came after the December crash, the reason for the trio’s suspension occurred before the crash. — Sapa