Man allegedly
assaulted after filming sleeping police
Eersterust Police officers
allegedly assaulted a resident after he made a video clip of them sleeping on
duty in their police vehicle at the police station.
June 9, 2015
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) was investigating
claims of a common assault, national spokesperson Moses Dlamini said.
He
said the IPID had not received any mandate
to investigate the allegations that officers were caught snoozing on duty.
“We
investigate crime and sleeping is not a crime,” said Dlamini.
Hashim
Consalves, member of the Eersterust Concerned Parents Association and sector 1 CPF, said he
got word around 03:00 on Saturday a week ago of two officers sleeping in their police vehicle while on duty at the station.
“I
went to the police station and found the
officers fast asleep. I walked through an empty police station and made a 20
minute video of what I saw before I woke the officers up.”
He
said he still had his phone in his hand when he knocked on their car window.
“The
female officer flung the car door open and it slammed into me. I hid the phone
in my underwear to prevent her from taking it but she forced her hands into my
underwear and took the memory card out of the phone.”
Consalves
said he managed to send the photos to a friend of his before the memory card
was removed.
He
said the officers choked, punched and scratched him during the assault before
they threw him into jail until the following Monday, when he was to appear in
court on assault and other charges.
Consalves
said the case was dropped even before he could make an appearance.
He
said the police officers did not read him
his rights nor did they remove his belt, cigarettes or lighter before throwing
him into jail.
“I
later returned to the police station and laid charges of
sexual assault against the police officers who forced their hands down my
underwear to retrieve the cellphone,” he said.
Pictures
captured and posted on Facebook by Amoré Sameera Jooste show two officers in
deep sleep in a Wierdabrug police van.
The
men parked their vehicle outside a Pick n Pay Express shop at the BP petrol
station near Eldoglen around 04:00 on Sunday morning, Jooste said.
Provincial
police spokesperson Lt-Col Lungelo Dlamini said a
disciplinary inquiry into the matter was continuing.
“Police
are aware of the clip of police officers sleeping in the car. The station
commander is busy interviewing witnesses in order to finalise the inquiry,” he
said.
Dlamini
earlier said sleeping on duty amounted to misconduct.
Hasim
Consalves has lacerations on his hands, feet and body after an altercation with
police officers because he made a video clip of them sleeping while on duty.
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