How not to handle coming across a belligerent traffic officer 101 – don’t fight fire with fire.

The N4 Bakwena/N1 South Interchange in Pretoria played host to some ugly scenes after a motorist and a traffic officer nearly came to blows. David du Toit and his wife filmed the incident, posting this account on YouTube along with this description:

Pretoria -on the N4 Bakwena\N1 South interchange my wife started to record a video, unknowingly we became the victims of an assault from Gauteng Traffic Police. the officer started to slap the bonnet and away from the camera’s angle he poked me in the face just after he slapped the bonnet, then he tried to take our car keys and in the struggle broke the key chain. I never touched him even once. this happened 30 October 2015 about 07h30am.

Don’t touch me on my studio, anyone?

An investigation is under way and the officer in question has been removed from his duty until said investigation is completed. Here’s the statement from the Gauteng Department of Community Safety courtesy of eNCA:

“The initial investigation has established that the officer had attended to an accident scene and had cordoned it off. It is alleged that the motorist in question reached the accident scene and on being approached by the officer became aggressive,” said Department of Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane in a statement.

Nkosi-Malobane said her department has since launched an investigation and at the conclusion of the investigation will make the findings known and take action against the guilty party.

I’m happy to be a fence sitter with this one and say that both were in the wrong. The officer reacted poorly from the beginning of the video, but shouting and screaming from both parties did little to douse the flames.

Respect guys, let’s try it out on our roads and see what a difference it makes.

[source:enca]