PICS: Different licence numbers uncovered after speeding JMPD officer rams car into tree

Any motorist in Johannesburg could have landed in jail for driving a vehicle with two different registration details, but there seems to be different laws for the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).

A state car that a JMPD officer was driving early on Monday came to a halt when she rammed into a tree outside a house in Florida.

The peak morning traffic along Albertina Sisulu Road towards Industria West didn’t slow down the cop as she sped by fast, according to witnesses at the scene.

With no siren or blue lights on, the female officer sped down the road just after 8am, headed towards a stop sign at the corner of Albertina Sisulu Road and 8th Avenue, just after Graham Johnson’s home.

How she turned the vehicle around a few metres from the stop sign and hit a tree outside his house remained a mystery, said Johnson, who has been living in the area for over 20 years.

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Two different licence numbers

Johnson said he ran to open his gate to investigate after hearing car tyres screeching. He and his son then found the injured cop still in her seat, with deflated airbags visible inside.

The long palm tree leaned over the electric fence, having fallen down in the seemingly powerful impact.

An ambulance was called and the officer was whisked away for medical attention.

Johnson said he began taking pictures of the JMPD branded car, including that of the licence disc and plate. Upon close inspection, he realised that the vehicle had two different licence numbers.

“I just went about taking pictures of the accident. I then saw that the licence on the disc, HP92TNGP, was not the same as the one on the licence plate, which was JF34WZGP.

“I went into the house to sit down and have a look again because it came as a shock to me that a JMPD officer was driving a police car with possible fake licence numbers.”

When Johnson alerted the other JMPD officers who arrived at the scene about the different licence numbers, one of them took out a pocket knife, went inside the crashed vehicle and scraped it off the windscreen.

“He told me the licence numbers differed because the windscreen was probably changed, and that it was no big deal.

“He was very casual about it… and he just removed the disc while I looked on. I told him I, as a citizen, would have been in trouble with the law if that was my car with different registrations. He was nonchalant about the whole thing.”

Pictures taken by The Citizen later showed that the car’s disc was missing.

Damages

The officers at the scene, said Johnson, also told him the state wasn’t liable for damages because there were no third-party injuries and the crash happened outside next to his wall, which was a municipal space.

He was told by the officers to go lay a complaint at the JMPD offices in the Johannesburg CBD if he wanted to be compensated for the damaged electric fence.

Breathalyser test

Johnson said he asked the officers why a breathalyser test wasn’t done when they arrived, as it was routine in car accidents.

“I just wanted to know why there was no breathalyser test, what if she was drunk? Her colleagues said a breathalyser was not necessary.

“All I am saying is that, what applies to us ordinary citizens must be seen to be practised by the police. They are the face of the law… they should have checked her alcohol level,” he said.

JMPD to launch an internal probe

JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla said it was irregular for a police car to have different licence numbers. He said under normal police operations, the driver would have been issued with a hefty fine or the vehicle would have been impounded.

“That is unheard of. Our internal affairs department will investigate the incident because every time an officer is involved in an accident, an investigation gets underway to find out if the accident was preventable, and it was preventable, driver would face our internal processes for such an incident.”

He added that JMPD investigators were routinely dispatched to accidents involving state vehicles to gather information and probe the cause of the crash.

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