RUSA (Reaction Unit South Africa)
A police officer attached to the Presidential Protection Services in KwaZulu Natal took his own life on Monday after fleeing the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident.
On Friday a 26-year-old female pedestrian was killed and the officer the officer, who was attached to the Presidential Protection Services, fled the scene without offering assistance.
Members of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) received a call from a farmer from Canelands on Sunday morning after noticing a suspicious black Toyota Fortuner on his property.
Upon arrival at the scene, members saw extensive damage to the car, no number plates and the vehicle was equipped with blue lights and sirens.
When police responded to the scene it was established that the vehicle had been reported as stolen at the Phoenix police station.
RUSA says a registration plate belonging to the vehicle was recovered at the scene but was removed by an unknown person minutes later.
On Monday, however, the officer booked into a hotel in Umhlanga before calling his brother to confess to the crime.
Provincial police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said the officer told his brother that he reported the vehicle as stolen to cover up his involvement.
He says the policeman said he could not go to jail and said he was going to take his own life.
The victim was a mother of two children.
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