An East Rand family is distraught after their 22-year-old son was killed and his relative injured, allegedly by a drunk police officer who ploughed into them at high speed with a state vehicle.
Two weeks after the tragic incident and despite claims that the cop was intoxicated and beer bottles were found in his police vehicle that night, police and the watchdog body, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), are yet to meet the family of Kamokgelo Gama.
Gama’s family said he had been travelling from a birthday celebration at Carnival City, Brakpan, with his brother-in-law Phumotso Mphuthi, 34, when tragedy struck.
The duo were hit by a police vehicle on the R554 near Windmill Park in Boksburg, also on the East Rand, while pushing the car they were travelling in after it ran out of petrol.
The officer is attached to the Boksburg North police station.
“We left Carnival City around 9.15pm. I travelled in another car with his (Gama) brother and his cousins. While driving around Vosloorus, Kamokgelo called me and told me they got stuck because their car ran out of petrol,” said Gama’s mother Thembisile Gama.
“He told me they pushed the car towards the yellow line and started pushing it to a petrol station,” said Thembisile. She said she and others bought petrol to pour into the stuck car but when they arrived at the scene just before 10pm, she found her son dead and Mphuthi seriously injured asnd paramedics were attending to him.
According to a postmortem, Gama sustained blunt force trauma injuries to the head and chest. He was a part-time DJ and did piece jobs at his uncle’s funeral parlour in Katlehong, where he lived with his mother.
Thembisile alleged that the police officer and the passenger in the state vehicle appeared drunk and did seem to have been hurt in the crash.
“The officer did not help my child. I saw him making a phone call and afterwards another police car came to fetch him from the scene. The paramedics did not attend to him,” she said.
Gama’s uncle Bongani Mtshali, 34, also alleged that the officer was drunk.
“How do you drive into people who are on a yellow line and wearing bright clothes? The officer was even removed from the scene by other officers,” said Mtshali.
Boksburg police station commander Col Mack Mngomezulu confirmed the incident but declined to reveal the officer’s name, saying there was an ongoing investigation.
“It is our vehicle and the [police] member who was involved in the incident. A case of culpable homicide was opened at Dawn Park police station. We are busy with an internal investigation and I would not want to say anything further until the investigation is complete,” said Mngomezulu.
He said the officer was on duty when the incident happened and was on his way home.
“If bottles of alcohol were found in the officer’s vehicle, he would have to account and explain himself,” he said.
Ipid spokesperson Robbie Raburabu said the officer was alleged to have been with a passenger who happened to be travelling with his brother or cousin during the crash.
Raburabu said a case of culpable homicide was under investigation.
“He hit a vehicle which was being pushed by another person who succumbed to his injuries at the scene. The said member was alleged to have been removed from the scene as a result of members of the family of the deceased who wanted to attack him.
“This case is still being investigated, therefore a lot of your questions forms part of what is still being investigated including the alleged beer bottles found in the car. “The case is supposed to be investigated then handed over to the National Prosecution Authority for a decision. They are the ones that would decide what happens to the suspect depending on the available evidence,” said Raburabu.
He said he does not know if blood samples or blood alcohol tests were taken from the cop.
“Our Ipid] investigators were not at the scene on the day of the incident. We were only informed about the incident a day after it took place and by then the scene was cleared,” said Raburabu.
Mngomezulu said it is not the station’s duty to check if blood samples or a breath alcohol test was done on the officer.
“We are only doing an internal investigation to investigate the behaviour and conduct of the officer in relation to the [culpable homicide] charge he is facing criminally. The investigators of the criminal case will check if blood samples or blood alcohol tests were done,” said Mngomezulu.
Thembisile said the officer should be sent to jail.
“The police showed no remorse and left him to die like a dog,” said Thembisile.
Sowetan understands that the officer took sick leave for a week after the incident and returned to work the following week but is not allowed to drive a state vehicle pending the outcome of the internal investigation.
kokam@sowetan.co.za
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