A STREET patrol guard was lucky to escape without serious injury after he was assaulted by a car tyre thief in Manor Gardens last week.
Blue Security operations manager, Brian Jackson, said the patroller had disturbed a gang stealing rims and tyres off a car in Queen Elizabeth Avenue at 4.42am on Wednesday morning.
“The patroller noticed one of the gang members standing outside a property, and as he approached him to ask him what he was doing another gang member hit him from behind and robbed him of his pepper spray, portable radio and baton,” he said.
Jackson said the gang was in the process of removing the rims and tyres of a resident’s vehicle.
“The robbers fled, leaving their tools – including a hydraulic trolley jack, a four way wheel spanner, a screwdriver, a jack handle – and a bag behind,” he said.
Jackson commended the patroller for his vigilance, which saved the resident’s tyres and resulted in the recovery of the implements used to perpetrate the crime.
“We can take back our streets by working together with patrollers and the police to fight crime and show criminals that their activities will not be tolerated in any measure on our watch,” he said.
In a separate incident in Florida Road, a resident was lucky to escape uninjured after he was robbed at knifepoint as he arrived home in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“The robber held the resident up at knifepoint and robbed him of his cell phone,” he said.
Berea SAPS attended the scene.
