Colleague's bullet kills cop
2008-09-18 08:03
Johannesburg - A policeman died on Wednesday after being shot in the groin when he tried to catch the gun his colleague had dropped.
Inspector Johan (Rassie) Erasmus, 32, and a colleague from the East Rand flying squad were called out to Nigel in the early hours of the morning following a robbery in the area.
While they were arresting the robbers, the gun Erasmus's colleague was carrying slid from its holster and fell.
A shot went off and Erasmus was hit in the groin.
He would have celebrated his 33rd birthday on Thursday.
Last words
His wife, Elsie, 31, said on Wednesday that she got a call from her husband's friend and colleague at about 00:20.
"I grabbed our daughter, Sumarie, 4, and rushed to the hospital. Rassie could still speak to us. The last thing he said was that he loved us."
Gauteng police spokesperson Eugene Opperman said the robbers broke into a liquor store in Alra Park after midnight. They fled by car with the liquor they had taken.
"The Nigel police were in pursuit and called the flying squad."
The four suspects were caught on the Nigel-Heidelberg road (R42).
Erasmus and his colleague of 12 years, an inspector whose name was not released by the police, were handcuffing the thieves when the accident happened.
He was taken to the Suikerbosrand clinic in Heidelberg and then transferred to the N17 hospital in Springs.
Internal bleeding
Elsie said the bullet missed his vital organs, but they couldn't stop the internal bleeding.
Erasmus had been in the police for 14 years and was also a member of the aquatics wing. He would have accompanied the national korfball team on their tour to New Zealand in November.
"In hospital after the accident, he still said he hoped he would be able to go. He was a real joker. I don't know how we'll manage without him."
Superintendent Dirk Badenhorst, Erasmus' commanding officer, said they were shocked to lose "a policeman of his calibre through such a freak accident".
Sapa earlier incorrectly reported that Erasmus shot himself with his own pistol.