Kimberley - A Kimberley family intends to open a criminal case against a Sol Plaatje traffic official who is alleged to have pepper-sprayed a four-year-old child while attempting to restrain the boy’s father.
Kimberley resident, Magriet Smit, said on Monday that she and her husband would be laying charges against the officer who allegedly pepper-sprayed her husband on Monday afternoon, after the two men got into an altercation following an earlier collision between Smit and a taxi.
“A taxi drove into the back of me, so I called my husband to assist,” Smit said on the scene on Monday.
“Traffic officials came in the meantime; but when my husband arrived he was very angry.
“He got into an argument with one of the officials when the driver of the taxi was leaving the scene; and as my husband drove off to follow, the traffic official drove into him and is now saying that my husband was in the wrong.”
The couple’s son was in the bakkie at the time of the collision with the traffic official’s vehicle, and Smit said that her son had also been injured when he inhaled the pepper spray fumes.
“My husband had to be taken to hospital by ambulance because of this,” she added.
“We will definitely be going to the police about this because this kind of behaviour can’t be accepted.
“My son was in the car when he (the traffic official) drove into them and he didn’t seem to care. He also didn’t seem to be too concerned about where my son was when he pepper-sprayed him.”
Eyewitnesses on the scene also questioned the conduct of the traffic official, who they said appeared to have deliberately driven into the bakkie.
“I’m not sure what the man did to provoke the officer, but it was definitely the officer that drove into the bakkie and not the other way around,” said one witness on the scene.
“Driving into him seemed a little excessive in the first place … but to use the pepper spray was just over the top. For one thing, he clearly didn’t take note of where the child was when he sprayed and a little boy got hurt.”
Spokesman for the Sol Plaatje Municipality, Sello Matsie, said that the matter would be thoroughly investigated.
“At this stage we do not have all the information available so we would prefer not to comment. However, we will be investigating the incident to determine the most effective action.”
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