The close shave with the four-pronged tool happened when Constable Mphosi Motete attended to a domestic violence complaint in Allanridge last week, provincial spokesperson Captain Stephen Thakeng said on Monday.
He found a 20-year-old man apparently breaking the door frame and all the window panes of his parents’ home in a fight over food.
“Constable Motete decided to get behind him without the suspect realising. Then this young man started to attack the member by hitting him, whereby he was saved by the bulletproof vest,” said Thakeng.
The policeman fell to the floor and the man with the pitchfork allegedly ignored two warning shots the officer had fired.
When he did not retreat, Motete fired a shot into the man’s right thigh. He ran away, but was later arrested on an attempted murder charge.
Allanridge station commander, Lieutenant Colonel Mhlolo Ngcotholozi, urged officers to be mindful of their safety.
“It’s clear that if Constable Motete was not operationally ready, he could have been killed or seriously injured by this assailant.”
The man would apply for bail in the Odendaalsrus Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Source: News24
