All eyes on drunken cop investigation
FERNDALE – Investigation continues of allegedly drunk cop who caused an accident and avoided a breathalyser.
Randburg anxiously waits for police to conclude an investigation involving a Randburg police officer who allegedly drove under the influence of alcohol, caused an accident and was whisked away by fellow officers without being breathalysed.
Media recently reported that a crime intelligence officer of Randburg police, made an illegal U-turn in a white, unmarked vehicle and collided with resident Katrina Miller’s vehicle on Main Avenue, Ferndale on 20 May.
The officer, who is now being investigated for reckless and negligent driving, allegedly refused to speak to Miller or to paramedics, and after he made a phone call, was driven away by fellow officers, while Miller was forced to stay until the end of the investigation.
Miller’s boyfriend Gino MacRitchie, a former police officer, claimed that he saw police officers hide empty glass bottles in the officer’s vehicle under the passenger seat, and that the officer’s licence disk was outdated.
Also, when MacRitchie asked a captain on scene to breathalyse the officer, and informed him of the out-dated licence disk, the captain allegedly refused, saying that those were the duties of another police department.
The same captain also allegedly told Miller not to give a verbal statement at the Randburg station until he contacted her later.
Randburg police spokesperson Warrant Officer Johannes Maja said that the investigation was ongoing, the police would not cover up the investigation and the same rules that apply on the road to residents, also apply to the police.
Chairperson of the Gauteng Provincial Community Police Board Andy Mashaile said that the board would “not tolerate any conduct of the police that leads to destruction of life and limb.We expect procedures to be followed and residents given the right to speak, and no one investigating [to] do criminal dealings,” he added.
John Taylor, former member of the Randburg Community Policing Forum, concurred.”[The officer] committed a crime in the Randburg precinct, and should be dealt with normally,” he said. “If he was a resident he would have been locked up immediately. They should also have conducted a breathalyser [test].”
Details: Randburg police 011 449 9000.
