There have been a great many deaths and severe injuries sustained by citizens at the hands of the SA police last year - at least 566 people are known to have died in 2010 alone in SAPS custody, for instance….
Picture: Beeld journalist Fanie van Rooyen and the editoral staff depicted the assaults as a ‘road-rage fracas’ caused by the victims: two defenceless Afrikaner pensioners, one on crutches, pitted against armed police officers: the old man had erupted in anger when his frail and terrified wife, who has an amputated foot and walks with crutches, was allegedly pushed over by a police officer. The frail 69-year-old Mrs Laynes had to be rushed to a public hospital to reset a broken hip while her elderly, beaten up husband and son were held overnight in Die Moot ‘s police cells. The two men were released on $50 bail without formal charges. Mr Strydom and Mr Laynes lodged formal assault complaints against the SAPS.
Mr Strydom told Beeld newspaper that a marked SAPS vehicle had suddenly pushed right in front of his dad’s car at a crossing because they were apprently chasing some unknown counter-traffic driver. The SAPS vehicle then screeched to a sudden halt right in front of the Laynes car. Mr Laynes stopped and then slowly detoured around them and said through his window: ‘You should at least look where you go before you drive.’
‘My dad was calm until the police officer pushed my mother over…’
Said his son: ‘My dad continued driving but the next minute the same SAPS vehicle flashed their lights and ordered my dad to pull over. However there was no place to pull over safely right there at that spot so my dad tried to pull over into Mchael Brink Road. At the crossing the SAPS official climbed from his police vehicle and reached into the car, grabbing my dad’s keys from the ignition. My dad climbed out and tried to grab his keys back. The official then attacked him and started struggling with him. Meanwhile my mother got very scared and climbed from the car with her crutches. The officer then pushed my mother over, she fell and hurt herself and then all hell broke lose. My father was calm until the police officer pushed my mother over.’
‘ My father was kicked into the police van … ’
His father only has the use of one arm due to an old injury, said the son. However with his healthy arm he then hit the two officers at the scene with a crutch. Suddenly more police vehicles showed up and police officers jumped out, started kicking and beating the two men and sprayed them with pepper-spray and handcuffed them. ‘My father struggled to get into the van so they kicked him into it,’ said the son.
The two men were released from police jail with R500 bail ($50). They lodged immediate complaints of assaults against the police members who were allegedly involved in the fracas, confirmed warrant-officer Marinda Swanepoel. She claimed however that the police officers had ‘pulled over the Layne’ vehicle because it was ‘overloaded’ (four adults and a teen in a Nissan Maxima) and didn’t want to pull over right away.’ Neither the Afrikaans newspaper nor the SAPS mentioned whether the Laynes couple and their son faced any official charges.
