Durban - A shocking video clip of an apparently drunk policeman being confronted by a motorist he almost crashed into on Thursday morning has gone viral on social media.
The incident happened in St John’s Avenue in Pinetown about 6am.
The 25-second clip depicts a man wearing a police uniform half slumped in the seat of a white VW Polo he is driving.
He appears to be drunk and has a cigarette in his right hand.
The voice of the man taking the video can be heard demanding answers before the policeman reverses the vehicle and flees.
Speaking to The Mercury later, the man who took the video (who asked not to be identified) said the drama started when the policeman failed to stop at a stop street and almost caused an accident.
He said: “I was driving to work along St John’s Road in the slow lane. There’s a Shell garage just down the road.
“There was a bakkie at the stop street; I saw it and it stopped in front of me before it carried on driving. And then this driver (policeman) came from right across the other side of the garage – he came straight through; he never stopped at the stop street.
“I had to hit my brakes so hard my tyres were screeching … This oke just carried on driving.”
Still in shock, he said, he drove after the car.
“We got to a stop street … I flagged him, but he flicked his hand at me and started to swear at me. The robot went green and we started driving again.
“He was trying to cut me off and was swerving – probably because he was drunk,” he said.
He said he finally managed to corner and confront the driver.
“I walked towards him because I wanted to find out what was going on.”
In the video the man can be heard saying: “You’re driving. You have a gun on your lap.”
The policeman responds: “Ja, ja.”
He refuses to give the motorists his police card.
The motorists can be heard saying: “You are going to be reported, my man. You are drunk – let’s get your face. I’ve got your face.” The policeman at this point reverses the car before fleeing.
A Mercury investigation revealed that the policeman was a constable at the Pinetown station.
The motorist said he did not report the matter to police for fear of being victimised.
“I know a cop who also works at the police and stays about two houses away from me. We don’t really see eye to eye because he always throws parties, and we complain about it,” he said.
Asked what his reaction was when he realised the man was a drunk policeman who had a gun in his lap, he said: “I was calm. I think God was with me … the fact that I remained so calm throughout that situation because my life was at stake.”
Police spokesman Jay Naicker said: “We have received the video from social media and have launched an internal disciplinary investigation.
“We view the conduct of the police officer in a very serious light, and once he is located he will have to explain his conduct to a disciplinary tribunal.”
The Mercury