The Independent Investigative Directorate (Ipid) is probing the attack on a Fish Hoek man after a video of him being beaten by two cops went viral.
In the video, which was shared thousands of times on social media, the man is seen on the ground as he is moered with police batons.
An angry woman can be heard shouting at the officers to stop and asking why the man is being assaulted.
“Stop it! Stop it! Leave him alone! Stop it! What is he doing? You are the police what the f*** are you doing? What the f***are you doing? Stop it!” she is heard shouting as they continue to moer him.
The video also shows an oupa holding a can of tear gas threatening to spray it at the cops if they don’t stop while the victim is heard saying that he was trying to report his girlfriend missing.
The man was arrested on a charge of assaulting a police officer and taken to the local police station.
Police officers in Fish Hoek, WC,
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) August 14, 2022
assaulting a man. He apparently called the @SAPoliceService to assist in reporting a man missing. @IPID_ZA pic.twitter.com/TiK2lUSxc1
According to the Fish Hoek CPF, they were alerted to the video but when crime-fighters wanted to check on the man’s well-being at the police station, they were thrown out.
According to a source close to the victim, cops opened a fake charge after he called them “f***ing idiots”.
“He did not assault them. What happened was he called the police after his girlfriend failed to arrive home safely,” says the source.
“She had taken an Uber and had not arrived and he was worried so he wanted to open a missing persons case.
“They arrived and he got into the van so he could explain his concerns and they laughed at him saying they will not be looking for his girlfriend and he must go and ask Uber.”
The source says after calling them f***ing idiots, the cops attacked the man.
“He was taken to hospital and had bruises all across his body and open wounds on his legs.
“His father had to take him new pants so he could appear in court yesterday.
The case at the Simon’s Town Magistrates’ Court was postponed to 20 September for further investigation and he was released.
“They have to claim he assaulted them as they have no other reason to have behaved like that. It’s the only chance of a defence,” adds the source.
Police spokesperson, Brigadier Novela Potelwa, says: “While criminal investigations into the conduct of SAPS members fall within the ambit of the Ipid, the SAPS internal investigation will focus on whether the members had flouted any disciplinary prescripts that relate to the conduct of police members.”
She says the cops and the man in the video have opened criminal cases against each other and the matter has been referred to Ipid.