Johannesburg - A group of 16-year-old schoolboys filmed an incident in which a cyclist was allegedly assaulted despite being threatened by the occupants of a diplomatic vehicle.
Last week, Hein van der Merwe was cycling near Pretoria University when, according to him, a black Mercedes-Benz nearly hit him.
An angry Van der Merwe followed the car, and in a bid to get the driver’s attention, he hit the vehicle’s side mirror.
The driver and cyclist began arguing. Van der Merwe said the driver asked him why he was causing a scene, and he replied that he wanted an apology for what had happened as drivers like him kill and seriously injure cyclists.
Meanwhile, a pupil at Pretoria Boys was leaving school when he heard that there was a fight in the road.
He ran to see what was happening and stood with a crowd of pupils watching the argument before taking out his cellphone and recording the assault.
He noticed the black car with diplomatic number plates and three men surrounding a cyclist.
“They were swearing at each other and arguing,” the teenager, whose identity is known to The Star, said.
“The cyclist said ‘I just wanted you to say sorry’,” the teen said.
He said the driver of the car swore at Van der Merwe.
According to the pupil, the cyclist said he was going to call the police, and Van der Merwe’s phone was grabbed from him.
“The cyclist yelled that what they had done was assault. The three men then held him down. One had his hand around his throat, they bound his hands and pushed him to the ground.
“He started screaming, and that drew a lot of attention. Cars stopped and people started coming out to help,” the teen recalled.
One of the occupants of the diplomatic vehicle noticed the teenager recording the incident.
“He said ‘give me the phone’. I refused and he told me that what I was doing was illegal. I said I had every right to be there and to record what had happened,” the teen said.
He said he ran into his school and the man followed him. A group of his friends stood behind the teenager and was confronted by the man, who told him he was going to arrest him.
Video: Diplomats harass cyclist on Roper street
“I asked what he would arrest me for and the man replied ‘I’m going to hurt you’,” the pupil said.
As they spoke, the teen passed his phone behind his back to a friend.
The policeman demanded the phone and the teen replied that he didn’t have it any more.
“He told me he would take me to Brooklyn police station.”
The man eventually gave up and the pupil said his friends uploaded the video of the cyclist being assaulted onto YouTube.
Van der Merwe said the driver threatened to break his neck.
He tried to take photos of the car, the bodyguard, driver and diplomat. He said the diplomat told him he would go to jail before his cellphone was grabbed out of his hand and thrown on the ground, breaking the screen.
The cyclist then went to Brooklyn police station to press charges, but they initially refused to open a case, saying he should go to police headquarters as it involved a diplomat.
Van der Merwe asked crime-fighting organisation eblockwatch to help track down the diplomat.
Founder Andre Snyman has uploaded the video of van der Merwe being assaulted on his website. He is hoping to identify the diplomat using the footage.
Brooklyn police station spokeswoman Captain Colette Weilbach said Van der Merwe was opening a case against the driver of the diplomat.
Charges of intimidation, assault and reckless and careless driving were opened
The Star