Two police officers sustained minor injuries and a homeowner suffered damage to his property when a police bakkie in which the officers travelled crashed through palisade fencing and into a house on a smallholding in Middelvlei on Sunday afternoon.
According to homeowner Gerard Blignaut, “There were two police officers in the car and both seemed to have sustained minor injuries – one suffered a gash to his forehead as a result of a shard of windscreen cutting him”.
Fortunately, none of the occupants of the house was injured.
However, the house had a great deal of damage. Blignaut says he had to board up the hole and get one of the local security guards to patrol the street to prevent intruders from entering the house.
Although it could not be proven, Blignaut claims the driver had lost control of the police car resulting in the crash.
Another witness, Billy Hudeel claims that immediately after the crash, the two officers swapped sides. He says he saw this when he offered to help them. They refused his offer and the driver moved into the passenger seat while the passenger got into the driver’s seat. Billy also claims that he had smelled alcohol on the officers.
Blignaut’s wife Katrina, also an eyewitness claims when she went outside to look at the scene one of the officers she spoke to smelled of alcohol. When she asked whether he had been drinking, he said he would talk later.
The police prevented bystanders to take pictures of the spectacle and stated that onlookers were not allowed to take pictures of the accident scene.
Netcare 911 Chris Botha is yet to comment on the matter.
