Durban - A video that has recently emerged showing a taxi driver trying to run over a Durban metro police officer has got South Africans talking.
The video was shared on Facebook by DUC, and was taken near the Christians Village shopping complex in Hillcrest, west of Durban.
In it, a metro police officer can be seen standing in front of the passenger side of a white Toyota Quantum.
The driver keeps driving forward slowly, pushing the officer, who appears to be writing a ticket.
Eventually the officer moves out of the way and waves for the driver to carry on.
The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) in KZN said that the driver’s actions were out of order and showed a complete disregard for the law.
Santaco’s Sifiso Shangase told IOL even if the driver felt he had a complaint against the police officer, he should have dealt with it correctly instead of the way he did.
“Firstly, nobody is above the rule of law. Secondly, the police are an epitome of our institutions, which we need to respect.
“We need to calculate information and educate our own drivers to also understand the importance of respecting police officers and peace officers and their roles.
“At the end of the day, he can’t just stop him for nothing. If the driver feels that (an in)justice was being done to him, he does have a recourse of going to court and making a representation so his issue could be dealt with through the law,” Shangase said.
IOL contacted the metro police for a comment on the video, who said that the driver should have been arrested.
Metro’s spokesperson Geraldine Stevens said that she has also sent the video to her regional commander who will also want to comment on the video.
“It is a criminal offence and the driver should have been arrested for reckless and negligent driving. I am not sure why the officer let him go,” Stevens said.
To make matters worse, Stevens said the officer in the video did not report the incident.
She said the driver could be brought up on a number of charges and the officer involved will be dealt with as well.
This, after her regional commander saw the video.
“This member that was there alone, did not report it or even call in for back up. Now that we have seen the video, we are tracing the driver.
“We will have to deal with the officer. He is part of traffic order. I wondered why he never pull out his firearm and warn the driver. That falls under failing to perform his duties, so he will have to be dealt with as well,” Stevens said.
IOL