A video showing Bonteheuwel residents interfering in an arrest on Wednesday (1 March) has surfaced.
Police spokesperson, Captain Marie Louw, says unrest broke out when police were trying to arrest an alleged drunk driver and his friend.
She says shortly after 20:00, officers were conducting crime prevention patrols when they saw a Volkswagen Golf. Louw explains when the driver saw officers, he sped away and nearly hit a child in the road. Police chased after the vehicle and when searching the driver and passenger, they smelt alcohol.
“The officers asked the driver to accompany them to hospital to conduct an alcohol test, but the suspect resisted and police had to use force to arrest the driver. The police asked for support of other police officers, because members of the Bonteheuwel community tried to prevent the police from arresting the driver.”
She says officers managed to drive away from the scene with a big group of residents still preventing police from doing their work. As officers drove away, the passenger jumped into the Golf and followed police. Louw says the 20-year-old man then rammed the police vehicle before driving off. Police chased after him and arrested him.
Louw says while some Bonteheuwel residents work with police, some have opted to work against their local police. The first driver was tested and it was established that he had exceed the legal alcohol limit, she adds.
Both men have been arrested and now face charges of reckless and negligent driving, preventing and interfering with police officers, resisting arrest, drunken driving and driving without a licence.
