Durban - Sydenham police officers were conducting patrols when they spotted a suspected stolen vehicle with three occupants yesterday at around 10.42am.
Provincial police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said police were approaching the vehicle when the occupants of the bakkie fired at them. An exchange of gunfire ensued.
In the video, a police van is seen stationary next to a white bakkie which comes to a gradual stop at the side of the road.
The officer in the passenger side of the police vehicle jumps out and, with his firearm drawn, speaks to the occupants of the van.
The officer backs away as shots are fired. The driver of the bakkie and a man sitting at the back , jump out and run away.
The officer limps off, out of view of the camera.
eThekwini Secure, a non-profit organisation that runs programmes in conjunction with Community Policing Forums (CPF) and neighbourhood watch groups in the province, said the officers, Sergeant Mchunu and Sergeant Mdunge, saw a white bakkie with two male occupants and one in the rear of the bakkie.
“They told the driver to move as he was blocking the road.”
The officers decided to intercept the vehicle as they suspected that it could have been stolen.
“As Sergeant Mchunu alighted from the passenger side, the suspects from inside the vehicle shot at him, he returned fire but could not continue as he had been shot in the hand and the thigh,” said the organisation.
eThekwini Secure said that as occupants of the bakkie fled, the other officer, who was driving the police vehicle, returned fire.
The gunmen remain at large.
Gwala confirmed that the officer was wounded in the leg and arm and taken to hospital for medical attention.
“An unlicensed firearm was recovered by police,” she said
A case of attempted murder was opened at Sydenham SAPS for investigation.
THE MERCURY