EPR officer denies being in the wrong
"They called me stupid and that's when I decided to retaliate."
Van Rooyen claims that his arrest was wrongful, that he had done nothing wrong and that the officers were quick to respond to the situation without hearing his side of the story. He adds that he will institute legal action against them.
Early on Tuesday morning, Van Rooyen allegedly resisted arrest after avoiding a Women’s Month roadblock initiated by Randfontein’s female traffic officers near the Spur in Greenhills. Shortly after his arrest, Van Rooyen was taken to the police station where he paid a R200 fine instead of the R1 000 fine initially issued because he eventually found his driver’s licence in his car.
“I was just driving to the Sasol garage when the officers decided to follow me without my having done anything wrong. I didn’t skip a stop street and I certainly didn’t do a U-turn as they claim,” says Van Rooyen.
“The only thing I did was going to the petrol station to put petrol into my car when suddenly I was followed and stopped at the petrol station in question. I was asked to produce my driver’s licence and while I was looking for it, one of the officers became impatient with me and decided to write me a fine,” says Van Rooyen who adds that he and the female officer in question know each other and cracked a joke prior to the incident.
“While writing out the fine, I asked her if she would allow me more time to look for my licence but she wasn’t having any of it. She just started insulting me and called me stupid and that’s when I decided to retaliate,” he continues.
He adds that things got heated between them and the officer then instructed him to get into her car. Allegedly she said she was going to “teach him a lesson” and take him to the police station to press charges against him.
“I voluntarily got into the officer’s car as instructed but she struggled to close the door,” says Van Rooyen who adds that the boot he was wearing for injuries he sustained while on duty caused her to struggle.
The herald has reported that Van Rooyen was seen throwing himself on the ground to resist being arrested but he claims he did that because he was upset and didn’t want to be photographed.
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