WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-12-15 Time: 09:00:09 Posted By: Jan
By Barry Bateman
The outstanding work done by the South African Police Service (SAPS) is too often undone by the actions of a few ill-disciplined rogues.
But these apples taste particularly bad when the rot runs right up to the top where those who are supposed to be responsible, condone their officers’ illegal actions.
Last Wednesday, I stumbled upon a police operation and watched officers use excessive and unwarranted force against suspects who had already been subdued and detained.
With the suspects already immobilised, a police officer shot a suspect in the leg moments after detonating a stun grenade centimetres from his head.
For me the drama started at about 11.30am as I was driving past the Engen garage on Rigel Avenue near the N1 onramp.
Glancing across the forecourt of the garage I saw several policemen armed with assault rifles standing around a BMW M3, shouting at its occupant to get out.
Several of the police were wearing the black tactical gear of what I later found out was the police’s crime intelligence assault unit.
I immediately turned into a side street to watch the unfolding events.
From across the street I saw a man lying next to a white Nissan bakkie while three men were being forced out of a gold coloured Mercedes Benz.
There was a lot of shouting and commotion, but by that time I had managed to contact my colleague Graeme Hosken on my phone.
The police had already forced all the men to the ground near the Mercedes Benz. Their heads were close together and facing away from the car.
It was then that one of the officers dropped a stun grenade just centimetres from their heads.
A stun grenade has two explosions which go off within quick succession. The bangs were incredibly loud and the men on the floor flinched.
I even flinched as I ducked behind the car, not immediately realising what had happened. It was then that one of the officers standing around the men on the floor shot a single shot into one of the legs of one of the suspects.
Then, strangely, the officers deployed a red smoke grenade which obscured the entire scene. Later, the head of this specialised unit, Commissioner Mulangi Mphego, arrived to be briefed.
To journalists he boasted how five firearms were recovered and five suspects arrested.
“One of them had to be neutralised, I hope you don’t mind,” he said with a big smile as he slapped me on the arm.
But as a witness, I asked why an unarmed man was shot.
“These are intelligence driven operations and sometimes you have to react based on what information you have about these people, what their intentions are,” he said.
And the Thunderflash? “It was for operational reasons. Do you know what a Thunderflash is for,” he asked.
“To stun,” was my response.
“No, a stun grenade is to stun. A Thunderflash is for operational reasons,” he said.
It’s questionable whether he knows what he was talking about.