Share

PICS: COPS AND MOTORIST IN ROAD RAGE!

accreditation
Screengrabs from the viral video of police officers shooting at a motorist’s car tyres.
Screengrabs from the viral video of police officers shooting at a motorist’s car tyres.

A VIDEO of Metro police officers in Cape Town shooting at a driver’s car tyres has left residents shocked and scared.

In the video of an incident that happened on Monday, 25 January, the officers are seen speaking to the driver who was inside his car. They then shoot the tyres while the robots were red. As soon as they turned green, the driver drives away from the officers, who start shooting at the runaway car.

The City of Cape Town’s executive director for safety and security Richard Bosman said they were aware of the various videos doing the rounds.

“The driver went through a red light and when Metro police officers tried to stop him, he drove into their vehicle, causing damage,” he said.

According to Bosman, the driver then sped off but when officers caught up to him and instructed him to exit his car, he refused and they shot at his tyres.

Screengrabs from the viral video of police officers shooting at a motorist’s car tyres..
Screengrabs from the viral video of police officers shooting at a motorist’s car tyres.

“The determination of the driver to evade the officers and avoid arrest compelled them to take alternative measures to stop him. The officers undergo regular training for such situations as seen on the video demonstrating them shooting at the getaway car tyres.”

He said they did that to limit his attempts to flee the scene at high speeds, which could have resulted in the injury or death of innocent road users.

“When he sped away for the second time, officers followed him. He subsequently rammed through the parking garage doors of a building where he was followed and arrested,” said Bosman.

He added that the suspect refused to obey a lawful instruction to stop and exit the car.

“After he had already caused considerable damage to property and risk to the safety of road users, officers were forced to take immediate action in an attempt to immobilise his car. This begs the question of why he was so determined to evade them.”

He said while officers were armed to protect their own safety, they could not ignore the responsibility they had in protecting the lives and safety of fellow road users and residents.

“With an alarming level of violence being displayed against our officers and increased lawlessness on our roads, our officers are often forced to make difficult decisions in the course of their duties.”

He added that this could be seen with the level of firearm use their officers had come across during these enforcement operations, such as with the discovery of a restricted automatic assault rifle last week during a similar traffic enforcement stop.

“The shooting has been reported to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate as is procedure, and all due processes will be followed”, said Bosman.

Get the best in Soccer, News and Lifestyle content with SNL24 PLUS
For 14 free days, you can have access to the best from Soccer Laduma, KickOff, Daily Sun, TrueLove and Drum. Thereafter you will be billed R29 per month. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed.
Subscribe to SNL24 PLUS
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
What do you value most personally?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Earning tons of money
21% - 5 votes
Career Progression
4% - 1 votes
Work-Life balance
75% - 18 votes
Vote
Let us know what you think

Contact the People’s Paper with feedback on stories and how we could make dailysun.co.za even better!

Learn more
Do you have a story for the People’s Paper?

Click below to contact our news desk and share your story with SunLand!

Let's do it!