A 60-year-old Pretoria doctor and his 84-year-old mother were traumatised following a night of terror after they were stopped by the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD).

The doctor, who wanted to remain anonymous out of fears of intimidation, said ‘it was a horrific night’ which left him and his mother traumatised after his licence and money were allegedly stolen.

Earlier this month, the man and his mother were travelling to an old-age home in the direction of Queenswood.

“It was on January 17 around 21:15,” the doctor said and explained they were stopped by five TMPD officers, one woman and four men.

“Everything seemed fine. I was stopped and asked for my licence and asked if I had any alcoholic beverages.

“I was honest and told them I had a small wine cocktail three hours before. I had deliberately not wanted to consume anything after as I knew I would be driving.”

When the officers asked to do a breathalyser test, the doctor agreed. However, according to the doctor, the device produced did not have a mouthpiece.

“The officers insisted it was ‘new technology’ after I declined multiple times to blow on the device. They then told me the device could pick up from 5m away that I was over the limit.”

The doctor said he was instructed to get out of the car.

“I said it was impossible that I was over the limit and asked to see the reading. I was then told that this new device sent readings to police stations electronically and the reading could not be revealed to me.”

The doctor said he was then taken out of his vehicle and put in a TMPD mini-bus.

He was then allegedly questioned by the officers on his occupation, age and why he didn’t use an e-hailing service.

“I remember arguing that I was not over the limit and wanting to see the breathalyser reading. They told me, ‘it is going to be bad for you in prison, you are old and you don’t want to sleep in the holding cells’.’’

He said the officers then asked him to pay ‘bail money’ of R3 000.

“I told them I didn’t have that much. One of the officers walked to my car and took R500 cash from my wallet. They then gave me my car keys and took my licence and told me to go withdraw the rest of the money.”

The doctor said he took a decision to drive off and never to return to the scene.

“I went to a health centre right after the scene and my blood was drawn in less than an hour.”

The doctor said he tested negative for plasma ethanol, which measures the amount of alcohol in a sample of blood. Pretoria Rekord has a copy of the negative test.

“I am too scared to report this to the TMPD as I fear for my safety.”

The doctor told Pretoria Rekord that while he did visit the Brooklyn police for help, he did not open a case.

TMPD spokesperson Superintendent Isaac Mahamba would not comment on the specifics of the doctor’s case, but instead urged motorists to report incidents of corruption or intimidation to a dedicated TMPD unit.

“As the department, we have established a unit that deals with such complaints,” Mahamba said.

“We will assign a team that will deal with this matter and obtain statements from the complainant and the affected officers.”

Mahamba said that according to road traffic acts, officers had to produce appointment cards when requested by motorists.

He said if officers had no name tags displayed, the public could identify their fleet numbers or registration of the vehicles.

“Internally, we will be able to identify the members who were in that car at the time.”