Fish Hoek police station has found itself at the centre of a police-brutality investigation with two of its officers accused of assaulting a man and the community police forum chairman (CPF) claiming he was thrown out of the station when he tried to investigate.
The Independent Police investigative Directorate (IPID) is investigating and a senior official from the provincial commissioner’s office will head up an internal SAPS investigation, according to provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Novela Potelwa.
She said the two officers were still on duty.
In a video of the alleged assault, a man cries out for help as a police officer holds him down while another officer beats him with a baton.
The video was filmed on Sunday August 14 and has been doing the rounds on social media.
The woman filming, 21-year-old Hannah Sanderson, can be heard screaming, “Leave him alone, stop it, leave him alone, you are the police…” But the beating continues.
When a bystander threatens to pepper spray one of the officers, the officer beating the man walks up to him and says, “Pepper spray me now.”
The officers then grab the man, who is still on the ground, by his shoulders while he shouts “wait, wait, wait.” He then explains that he was trying to get their help to lodge a missing person’s report.
Asked by the bystander why the officers were hitting him, the man responds: “Because they wouldn’t help me.”
This is where the video ended for most viewers but in an additional clip seen by the Echo, the officers cuff the man and the bystander says, “We don’t know the full story,” to which one of the officers replies: “You don’t have to know.”
While being cuffed, the man says,“ I’m not safe with these people, I’m not safe with them, help me…” He is then wrestled to the ground again and then taken to the back of the police van.
Hannah, who was visiting her parents from Dubai, said the man is their tenant and he had been outside their property talking to the police officers. About five minutes later, she said, they had heard him screaming for help.
This is when she ran outside.
Her mother, Kim Sanderson, said their tenant is “the softest, nicest guy,” and it was the loudest she had ever heard him.
Kim said she had phoned the police station and asked to speak to the station commander, but the officer who had answered the phone had told her: “There must be a perfectly good explanation why they are beating him.”
CPF chairman Jonathan Mills said the shift commander at Fish Hoek police station had prevented CPF members from checking on the man at the station or getting an update on his condition, which was his prerogative, but he had also refused to accept the video into evidence or record the CPF’s visit in the “occurrence book”.
Mr Mills said he had objected to the shift commander’s behaviour and had told him he would be making a complaint. Another police officer in the charge office, he said, had then started verbally abusing the CPF members with the shift commander’s support.
Mr Mills said he had objected again, insisting that the behaviour of both the officers was unacceptable.
Mr Mills said he had started recording a video of the officers at which point the shift commander had come out from behind the counter and forcefully grabbed and pushed him out of the station without warning or any prior request to leave.
“The CPF is a partner of SAPS and it is not acceptable for us to be verbally abused and physically assaulted in this manner when following up on reports made by members of the community. SAPS has a duty of care to all members of the public and accusations of police brutality should not be taken lightly or dismissed out of hand,” he said.
Mr Mills said the CPF had later received an update that the man had been taken to hospital for a medical examination after the night shift staff came on duty.
“Unnecessary use of force by SAPS members is not acceptable, neither is threatening behaviour and abusive language towards witnesses who are not obstructing the members.”
Brigadier Potelwa said that one of the police officers in the video had opened a case of assault against the man while the man has opened a case of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) against both officers.
Mr Mills said the CPF had submitted its own complaint, along with video of the officers’ conduct in the charge office to the station commander and the provincial police ombudsman.
Station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Jackie Johnson confirmed that the man had received medical attention and that he had opened a criminal case.
IPID spokesperson Lizzy Suping confirmed they were investigating.
Community Safety and Police Oversight MEC Reagen Allen said: “The conduct of the SAPS officers in this video is alarming and deeply concerning. I’ve engaged the provincial commissioner’s office in this regard and have been informed that the matter is currently being investigated internally.
“I am pleased that the SAPS hierarchy has seen the seriousness of this matter and is following a two-pronged approach with their investigation.”
