More
police brutality complaints in JHB
FILE: Kempton Park resident Gerald
Carey says he was beaten up by police when they pulled him over on 9 May 2013.
Picture: SuppliedMultimediaPrevious lineNext line 11/06/2013 Alex Eliseev | 2 months ago
JOHANNESBURG - Eyewitness News has
received a string of fresh complaints of police abuse, bribery and alleged
false arrests in northern Johannesburg.
One case led to the arrest of two
officers accused of stealing a bag full of expensive electronics from a man
arrested for crossing a red robot in the dead of night.
The officers are due to appear in
court this week.
Ashton Pool and his roommate were
caught skipping a traffic light last month, an incident which led to hours of
detention and an unlawful house search and violence.
“Then he ran up from a few meters
and kicked me over a table, I landed against a counter and then he came to hit
me more.”
Pool said he had to leave his home
and is battling at work.
The officer also threatened to pour
boiling water on him.
“When I put the kettle on I think of
that and when I see a cop van I’m so paranoid. I mean these people are supposed
to protect us.”
In another case earlier this month a
man was locked up and beaten after his fiancé was accused of stealing a
cellphone.
And in yet another incident, an
Emmrentia resident’s house was turned upside down and damaged by policemen who
claimed they were chasing information about a drug lab.
OTHER CASES OF BRUTALITY
Last month Gerald Carey, a Kempton
Park man, claimed he was beaten for refusing to pay a bribe.
Carey said he was pulled over on the
East Rand night and beaten with a baseball bat when he refused to hand over
money.
He spent two days recovering in
hospital.
Carey said, "I was asking them
what they were doing and why they were doing this to me. I told them they were
hurting me and asked them why, because they were the police.”
After he managed to stand up, he
made a run for it and was able to hitchhike home before being taken to
hospital.
But, the police's Katlego Mogale
said the officers have also opened a charge of assault against Carey.
“A police officer was also
assaulted. He had injuries to his upper eye and hand. Both cases have since
been handed over to IPID.”
Meanwhile, previous incidents of
police brutality prompted a conference earlier this year on the behaviour of
officers countrywide.
IPID says officers must think about
the implications of using force and make sure their actions comply with
international codes of conduct.
IPID's Moses Dlamini was one of the
speakers at a seminar on police brutality which was held in Pretoria by the
Institute of Security Studies (ISS) earlier this year.
Dlamini mentioned various cases,
including the torture and murder of taxi driver Mido Macia, but said not all
police officers were guilty of brutality.
