A 26-year-old man has been arrested for assaulting a member of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) who wanted to search him.
EMPD spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Kelebogile Thepa said the 26-year-old pushed and assaulted the officer before he was arrested.
“On July 2, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department’s Bronberg precinct officers arrested a 26-year-old male suspect, for the assault of the police officers and crimen injuria, in the Springs area.
“While the officers were conducting their normal duties, they came across a suspicious group of males, at the corner of Magaliesburg and Octonica Street. Members approached the group and asked to search them,” said Thepa.
She said some of the men in the group conformed to the EMPD officer’s instructions, except for the 26-year-old.
According to EMPD, the 26-year-old man “started to swear at the officers”.
“As an officer approached to search him, the suspect aggressively pushed the officer to the ground and started to physically assault the officer,” said Thepa.
“The suspect was immediately arrested and charged with common assault and crimen injuria. He was detained at the Springs police station. The suspect will soon appear before the Springs Magistrate’s Court,” she said.
Earlier, in an unrelated case, Thepa said three security guards, contracted by the City of Ekurhuleni, were arrested for allegedly stealing copper cables while they were on duty at a municipal depot.
Thepa said the three security guards were assigned to guard a municipal site.
“On July 1 at around 1.45am in the morning, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department’s anti-cable theft unit officers arrested three male security guards, contracted by the City of Ekurhuleni for tampering with essential infrastructure in the Tembisa area,” Thepa said at the time.
“As EMPD officers were patrolling around the Tembisa area, they received a call from the control room, informing them about the three on-duty security personnel picked up by the CCTV cameras in the process of stealing electrical copper cables stored in the depot situated on Beans Street in Mangweni section,” she said.
EMPD officers rushed to the scene and allegedly caught the three security guards red-handed.
IOL