Cops under fire for woman’s road death

Published Sep 19, 2013

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The Independent Police Investigative Directorate is investigating the death of Port Shepstone restaurant owner Lee-Anne Douglas, 45, as a result of police action.

Douglas, driving a blue Chevrolet Spark, allegedly refused to stop for an unmarked police vehicle in Port Shepstone on Sunday evening and, as a result, a chase took place down the N2 towards Umkomaas.

Directorate national spokesman Moses Dlamini said: “The policemen fired shots at the woman’s vehicle and it overturned. The woman died on the scene. It is alleged that the policemen reported just the accident and concealed the fact they had shot at the deceased’s vehicle.

“When the vehicle was towed away, the station commander noticed bullet holes in the vehicle and he called the suspects and tried to get clarity – they could not give a reasonable explanation for the shooting,” Dlamini said.

A docket of murder and defeating the ends of justice has been opened and the investigation continues. No arrests have been made.

Colonel Jay Naicker declined to comment on whether or not it was police procedure to shoot at a vehicle if the driver refused to stop, saying: “We don’t want to speculate as to what happened, but we are fully co-operating with Ipid so that we can unwrap what happened on Sunday.”

A policeman, who did not want to be named, said that when he arrived on the scene no one was helping Douglas, who died at the scene but not on impact.

“Everyone was just milling around, almost confused.”

 

The policeman said that the N2 at the Umkomaas turn-off had been completely blockaded and that this was announced on the police radio.

“Why would you shoot at a vehicle if you knew that she would definitely be stopped within the next minute?”

The Mercury

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