Crash victim still suffering
My injuries ‘soul destroying’
TERRIFIED at the thought of not being able to walk properly again, the Durban woman who was critically injured in a crash with police and fleeing robbers on the N2 last month said her situation was “soul destroying”.
While KZN police have had recent successes against criminals, which former Hawks boss Johan Booysen said was because of improved crime intelligence in the province, citizens have been caught in the crossfire.
Debbie Stephen, 55, was one such person. “I want to get up and do something, but then I remember I can’t move, it’s soul destroying to be stuck in a bed all day. From being so active to this, I just don’t know.”
The sales manager at a Pinetown car dealership had left uMhlanga on the first Friday in August and was on her way back to the office when the car she was driving was involved in the crash.
Almost movie-like, the cops were in pursuit of a suspicious vehicle on the N2 freeway heading north near the Nandi Drive off-ramp when a shootout ensued. The fleeing men tried to run the police vehicle off the road. The two vehicles collided and crashed through the barrier, landing on the southbound carriageway and hitting Stephen’s car.
Police killed three suspects and a fourth died later in hospital. Traffic was backed up for hours while police scoured the scene.
Stephen was rushed to hospital where she stayed in ICU, and underwent an operation to her broken arm and shoulder.
“When I went to hospital, I got plates and screws in my arms, but now they are tearing away from my bone, and I have to go for another operation on Tuesday to repair it. It will leave me unable to use my arm for another six weeks, and with my broken pelvis I don’t know when I will be able to leave my wheelchair. I just want to walk,” she said through tears.
Most frustrating, said Stephen, was that paperwork from the doctors and the police were still outstanding, delaying funds for medical costs.
“My daughter has been my pillar of strength, spending endless hours at the doctors and the police to get paperwork I need to submit my injured on duty claims, but she’s always given the run-around.
“My medical aid limit has been reached and, while there is some cash we can use for medical bills, we need to get my papers in order so we can cover future medical costs. I wish the cops and the criminals did not have to do their shooting in an open area knowing someone could get hurt, but it’s too late for that now,” she said.
In another incident, two bystanders were shot in a shootout between police and robbers during a cash-in-transit heist in the Springfield and Parlock areas earlier this week. Police killed five suspects. One of the bystanders suffered major vascular and abdominal injuries while the other was shot in the arm. Numerous attempts to interview the two bystanders were unsuccessful.
Booysen said he knew for a fact that crime intelligence had improved in KwaZulu-Natal.
“I just know, from first-hand knowledge, that they are putting their focus on crime intelligence,” he said.
He said he hoped other provinces putting emphasis on crime intelligence could also lead to more arrests. “But, definitely, in KwaZulu-Natal they are doing the right thing,” he said, without elaborating.
Booysen also said videos on social media showed that criminals had no regard for life.
“Then there is the issue of the arms they carry. AKs are concerning but they are also carrying R-5s, which are used only by the police.”
He said criminals did not hesitate to shoot in their desperation to get away.