A woman says she may be permanently paralysed after a police van drove over her and officers sped off, and later fired rubber bullets at mense at a street party.
Nolwazi Tshepang Tokhwe was walking to the bash in Capricorn, Muizenberg to see if her nephew and niece were there when she was struck.
Cops allegedly sped off, leaving Tokhwe fighting for her life.
Tokhwe tells the Daily Voice: “The police van was driving at a very high speed, I was walking on the pavement and the car dragged me into the road.
“The driver didn’t have the humanity to get out of the vehicle and check on me. I was quite shocked that he saw that he bumped me and drove on.
“Someone had to come and pull me out as the van was still moving, my arm was still stuck under the tyres.”
She says some teenagers were having a party in the street and she was concerned about her nephew and niece.
Tokhwe says: “I was on my way to see if they weren’t there and the accident happened, but the police proceeded to stop the bash instead of helping me.
“They got out of the vehicle and started shooting at the kids, which is when the violence started.”
The mother of two says cops must have called an ambulance because it arrived quickly.
Tokhwe says she fears she may be paralysed for life as her pelvic bone was broken, while her arm and back are badly bruised.
The call centre agent fears she will not be able to go to work for months as she receives physiotherapy.
Tokhwe says: “I have to mentally prepare myself to sit in a wheelchair. The doctor said I was going to use the wheelchair.
“The way the police left me there showed they didn’t care. This happened on Saturday and when my sister went to try and open a case. She was told I was needed at the police station.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Capricorn residents held a picket in front of Muizenberg Police Station where the officers work.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Wesley Twigg, says Muizenberg SAPS are investigating two cases – one against the officers for reckless and negligent driving, and one of public violence after a police van was stoned during an incident on Saturday in Berg Road, Capricorn, in which an adult female was injured.
Twigg says: “The victim was taken to a medical facility for medical treatment. The circumstances surrounding the incident forms part of the police investigation.”