Riot Hlatshwayo
Riot Hlatshwayo
Mpumalanga police are investigating circumstances that led to one of their vehicles colliding with a civilian vehicle at an intersection while it was chasing after criminals on Sunday.
The police's flying squad VW Jetta was travelling along Henshal Street in an easterly direction with its siren blaring when it passed a red robot shortly after 2pm.
A Toyota Corolla was coming through Samora Machel Drive when the collision happened at the intersection.
The police vehicle hit the left front side of the other car causing it to spin around and face the direction from which it had come.
The driver of the police car lost control and hit an electric pole in front of a shop where a street public telephone operator was sitting.
"I'm lucky to be alive because if this pole had not stopped the police car it would have knocked me and my two customers down," said Lungile Magagula, the phone operator.
She said the car could easily have ended inside the shop. It came to a standstill only about three metres from the shop.
Three people, including a policeman, were injured in the accident and were rushed to a hospital in Nelspruit in a serious condition.
Mpumalanga police organised crime unit spokesman Captain Leonard Hlathi has warned motorists to reduce the volume of their car radios in town.
"This will allow motorists to hear the siren of police cars, ambulances and fire-engines. I'm not saying this was the cause of Sunday's accident, but in most cases that is how this kind of accident happens.
"Our investigations are continuing," said Hlathi.
Three seriously hurt in accident involving cops
Riot Hlatshwayo
Riot Hlatshwayo
Mpumalanga police are investigating circumstances that led to one of their vehicles colliding with a civilian vehicle at an intersection while it was chasing after criminals on Sunday.
The police's flying squad VW Jetta was travelling along Henshal Street in an easterly direction with its siren blaring when it passed a red robot shortly after 2pm.
A Toyota Corolla was coming through Samora Machel Drive when the collision happened at the intersection.
The police vehicle hit the left front side of the other car causing it to spin around and face the direction from which it had come.
The driver of the police car lost control and hit an electric pole in front of a shop where a street public telephone operator was sitting.
"I'm lucky to be alive because if this pole had not stopped the police car it would have knocked me and my two customers down," said Lungile Magagula, the phone operator.
She said the car could easily have ended inside the shop. It came to a standstill only about three metres from the shop.
Three people, including a policeman, were injured in the accident and were rushed to a hospital in Nelspruit in a serious condition.
Mpumalanga police organised crime unit spokesman Captain Leonard Hlathi has warned motorists to reduce the volume of their car radios in town.
"This will allow motorists to hear the siren of police cars, ambulances and fire-engines. I'm not saying this was the cause of Sunday's accident, but in most cases that is how this kind of accident happens.
"Our investigations are continuing," said Hlathi.