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Western Cape police are investigating the conduct of two officers after a video, in which they appear to be assaulting a member of the public, surfaced this weekend and was circulated on social media.
Police spokesperson, Brigadier Novela Potelwa, said a senior police official had been appointed to "institute an investigation in terms of the SAPS disciplinary code into the conduct of two police officials captured in a video involved in an altercation with a member of the public".
Potelwa said:
Preliminary findings reveal that the two policemen in the video are from Fish Hoek SAPS and had responded to a complaint in the area about a missing individual.
The video shows one officer holding a man on the ground next to a police vehicle, as another officer hits him with a baton.
The man can be heard crying out for help as a woman shouts: "Stop it! Stop! Leave him alone!"
The man manages to push the officers off before the one carrying the baton walks up to another member of the public. The second man is seen holding what appears to be pepper spray, aimed at the police officer’s face, while the police officer advances on him and appears to be threatening him.
The exchange between the two is not clear in the video, but the officer walks away before any further altercation takes place.
The man in the video has been sent to a medical facility for treatment. He has opened a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm against the police officers. The docket would be referred to IPID, said Potelwa.
"While criminal investigations into the conduct of SAPS members fall within the ambit of the IPID, the SAPS internal investigation will focus on whether the members had flouted any disciplinary prescripts that relate to the conduct of police members," she said.
"It is also worth noting that one of the police officials captured in the video has opened a case of assault against a police official at the Fish Hoek police station against the man in the video."