A car guard who said he witnessed the shooting of an unarmed civilian outside the Kempton Park police station, east of Johannesburg, has told The Star newspaper that the policeman refused to call an ambulance.
Sipho Baloyi, who had helped Jeanette Odendaal, 45, to park her car when she crashed into a stationary police vehicle, said the sergeant shot her from short distance after Baloyi alerted the police to the accident in the parking lot.
“A sergeant came around from the charge office and walked out of the station. He didn't say anything, but walked to her passenger window. He shot her upper arm and it looked like the bullet went through her breast and out of her chest,” said Baloyi.
The police officer then walked back into the police station, but returned a few seconds later.
He said he pleaded with the sergeant to call emergency services.
But, said Baloyi, the sergeant told him: “She's dying already, there's no point in calling the ambulance.”
He said other police officers flooded the scene after the shooting and demanded to know from the sergeant why he had shot her. The sergeant then allegedly burst into tears.
Beeld newspaper reported that Odendaal, who lived in Aston Manor, a few kilometres from the police station, had wanted to report a case of disturbance of peace.
The Star said her family would travel from Middelburg in Mpumalanga on Thursday to identify her body.
The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) said on Wednesday that the sergeant had been arrested and would appear in court soon.
It was believed that he mistook the noise of the crash for gun shots. - Sapa