Panga man challenges cops from a dizzy height
A seven-hour negotiation stand-off with a crazed pangawielding man finally ended when he was pounced on by members of the
SAPS’s Tactical Response Team yesterday. The drama started when the
man was found perched on a ledge of the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court building armed with
a stick and a panga and refused to come down. The chief police negotiator eventually managed
to talk him down, and led him out into the street. But more
drama unfolded when he stubbornly refused to be disarmed.
FOR ABOUT seven hours, a panga-wielding man gave police officers a hard time, refusing to get down from a section of the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court building.
The situation became so dire that Joburg metro police department officers and members of the Crime Combating Unit had to enlist the services of police negotiators to get the man down.
Together, they pleaded with the man, believed to be mentally unstable, to return peacefully to ground level and to desist from using his weapon against himself and members of public, who watched from a distance.
But for hours he sat comfortably on a lower section of the old building and barked orders at the officers. He demanded cigarettes, which the police gave to him, but still refused to climb down the ladder that the police had put up for him to use.
After about three hours of trying, a police negotiator finally managed to persuade the man to come down, and he reluctantly agreed to sit on a bench outside the court.
Despite this success, the man refused to let go of his panga, and when officers attempted to overpower him from behind, his lightning-fast reflexes kicked in and he used his weapon to assault them.
About four officers sustained minor injuries in the altercation.
One of them tried to use a stun gun to constrain him, but the weapon failed to go off, causing the man to become increas- ingly enraged, while refusing to be taken into custody.
The negotiator didn’t become discouraged and continued to bribe the man with cigarettes in a bid to secure his arrest.
But his efforts failed to yield results, as the man argued and refused to hand over his weapon.
This prompted the police to bring in armed officers from the Public Order Policing Unit. They cordoned off the street and instructed the large crowd that had congregated near the scene to keep their distance.
Together, a large contingent of officers forcefully coerced the man into submission.
His screams could be heard from a distance as the cops wrestled him to the ground, seized his weapon and arrested him.
Members of the public and court employees cheered as the handcuffed man was placed in the back of a police van.
One of them said the man was protected by muti, which was why the police had struggled for hours to apprehend him.
But the negotiator, who didn’t want to be named, said the reason they didn’t rush the process was because the man was apparently mentally challenged and they wanted to prevent a situation where he could endanger himself.
The negotiator said the man’s modus operandi was to climb on top of buildings in a bid to find shelter. “Last week, he trespassed on top of another building and we had to talk him down.”
He has been charged with the assault of police officers as well as possession of a dangerous weapon, and is expected to appear in court soon.