Cape Town - Police say they are investigating whether an officer committed suicide at the scene where a pedestrian was knocked down by a police car.
The constable was driving on the R300 highway near Mitchells Plain on Thursday.
“We can confirm an inquest docket has been opened after a police officer was fatally wounded, and police are investigating culpable homicide after an unidentified pedestrian was knocked down this morning,” police spokesman FC van Wyk said.
He could not give further details about the accident involving the 30-year-old constable and referred all questions to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s spokesman Moses Dlamini.
Dlamini said: “At this stage, I cannot make a comment or confirm anything as I have not received a report from the investigating officer. According to the law, a report needs to be made within 72 hours.”
A witness, who posted on the Facebook page “Traffic fines, cameras & updates in Western Cape”, said: “I drove past this accident this morning on my way to work at about 05.30am. It happened just moments before I passed as there (was) no one to direct the traffic at that time.
“The pedestrian was cut in half. About a 100 meters (sic) was the black SAPS 4x4 double cab. I did not know at the time that the driver committed suicide, but that was a horrendous scene to witness so early in the morning.”
On a post on another Facebook page, Western Cape Traffic Updater said: “Anybody notice the incident on the R300 this morning? Apparently a police vehicle hit a pedestrian and the officer committed suicide.”
Another post on the same page said: “The policeman is my friend’s colleague. He shot himself at the scene after he knocked the pedestrian over.”
Cape Times