'Spot fine' for red light ends in shooting

Two North West police officers face charges of attempted murder, theft and hijacking after allegedly trying to force a Brits man to pay a spot fine. Christiaan Wynand Rudolf Nel was pulled over by two officers in a police vehicle on Monday at 3am, supposedly for ignoring a red traffic light on the Brits main road, North West Superintendent Junior Metsi said on Tuesday. "An argument ensued about alleged speeding and the two officers issued a spot fine of R2 000."

Nel called his girlfriend and arranged to meet her at a nearby fuel station where the money would be drawn."The girl asked her father for help, who enlisted a security company's assistance. The money was drawn and given to Nel, upon which the police officers and Nel drove off, one of the officers driving Nel's car." The security vehicle followed them to a spot where Nel handed R1 000 to the police officers."It seems that one of the officers spotted the security surveillance, panicked and drove off in the police vehicle. Nel ran towards the security guards and several shots were fired. The second police officer then fled in Nel's car." The car was found abandoned in the Brits area later on Monday.

A criminal and internal investigation was under way and the matter had been referred to a senior public prosecutor for a decision on how to proceed. "Nobody is above the law and the North West police will do everything in its power to root out all corruption within and outside the police service. We do not hesitate to arrest even our own members if they commit a crime," said Metsi.

The province's Public Safety MEC Howard Yawa said he viewed the allegations in a serious light and had ordered that the internal investigation be expedited for completion within the next 14 days. "There is no room for corrupt elements who compromise the integrity of the police service," he said in a statement. "The investigation will need to get to the bottom of why the motorist was not arrested, if indeed he had committed a traffic violation and couldn't also produce a driver's licence, why the alleged financial transactions had to be conducted between the motorist and the said policemen, and what led to the alleged shooting, flight of the policemen from the scene and subsequent abandonment of the motorist's car."

Source: IoL