Speeding cops slammed after girl's death

[StlouisX50]

Speeding cops slammed after girl's death
September 16 2008 at 08:28PM
By Natasha Prince

The city's community safety department has called for reckless police drivers to be taken to task after the death of a Strand teenager in an accident involving a police van.

The call comes ahead of the funeral on Monday of 16-year-old Kylie Pienaar from Strand, who died in a crash involving her scooter and two other vehicles on Wednesday.

She was knocked off her scooter, allegedly by a police vehicle transporting Pollsmoor prisoners.

She was knocked off her scooterThe accident occurred at the intersection of Main Road and Broadway Boulevard in Strand.

Police are investigating a culpable homicide case.




DA spokesperson for community safety Lennit Max called on provincial Police Commissioner Mzwandile Petros to institute "a proper investigation into the manner in which the police officer involved was driving" and called for the "immediate suspension of the police officer involved".

Max said that the "senseless killing" of Kylie was "unfortunate and criminal" and had "once again turned attention to the reckless manner in which certain police fail to abide by the law".

Max said some police drove recklessly every day while transporting prisoners to and from courts.

'No police officer, whether acting on an emergency call or otherwise, has a blind right of way'"All vehicles are properly secured as prescribed and in certain instances a back-up vehicle is also used," he said.

He called for precautions to be put in place to avoid the threat of police vehicles being held up in order to free inmates.

"Speeding, ignoring the safety of other road users and disregarding traffic signs is not the solution to secure the safe transport of detainees.

"No police officer, whether acting on an emergency call or otherwise, has a blind right of way on any road," Max said.

Novela Potelwa, spokesperson for the commissioner's office, said on Monday that the accident in Strand in which Kylie Pienaar died was under investigation.

natasha.prince@inl.co.za

[Cips]

I pray for that family, and I sure hope justice gets served.

[hockey005]

x2

[proudNMAmember]

That is too bad man.

[MEM-TEK]

Occasionally I see police who wrecklessly speed for no legitimate reason. They weren't on their way to a call and weren't on their way to meet their buddies for doughnuts and coffee. Instead they were just enjoying the need for speed. One very dangerous example occurred while I was driving through Shreveport, LA late in the evening on a Friday night. A cop was running Ka band radar speed trap on a long and straight stretch of I-20 highway on the east side of town. He pulled out, came blasting towards me for a full mile and a half, and then made a U-turn across the median about a half mile behind me. I was about to switch lanes to the left lane since its pavement looked smoother when I noticed headlights around 500 to 800 feet back in my rear view and side mirrors. Something made me think twice about switching lanes since I figured that it might be the cop. Sure enough, only a couple of seconds later he blasted by me doing 140mph. I am not kidding -- he really was going that fast, and if I had changed lanes then the accident would surely have been fatal for both of us. He proceeded nearly a mile up the road and already was turned around, parked, and operating his Ka band radar again when I passed him. If I could have seen his car number (local cop) then I would have called 911 and requested that he be yanked from duty and evaluated.