Cop remembered after tragic crash
A memorial service of a Mamelodi cop who was killed in a high speed chase with the robbers was held at Maupanaga Police headquarters on Thursday.
A Mamelodi policeman killed in a crash during a high-speed chase will be remembered as an active officer dedicated to fighting crime, mourners heard this week.
Sergeant Falakhe Mkhize’s memory was honoured at a memorial service held at Maupanaga police headquarters on Thursday.
Mkhize was killed a week ago when the police car he was driving smashed into the wall of a shopping mall while he and a colleague were chasing robbers who had broken into a house in Silverton.
They had responded to a call to pursue a BMW X3 which had just been stolen from the house near Silverton Crossing.
Speaker after speaker said they would remember Mkhize as a dedicated cop who was passionate about fighting crime.
“We extend our most heartfelt condolences to his beloved family, friends and colleagues. I want to encourage all the other cops to continue with the legacy and standard that Sergeant Mkhize has set,” said Colonel Preston Joseph Daniels, section commander of diplomatic policing, the unit Mkhize worked in.
During his time at the diplomatic policing he was very active in curtailing crime, making numerous arrests even when off duty.
“The gap left by Mkhize will be significant, and his naughty smile will be missed,” said Daniels. “I wish his wife, Ntombi, and their son, Falakhe Jnr, courage and strength in this difficult time.”
The chase was along Watermeyer Street in the direction of Mamelodi when the police vehicle, a Ford Focus, veered off the road, mounted the pavement and crashed into a wall.
An ambulance arrived to take the surviving police officer away while teams of forensics officers worked on the scene, watched by a growing crowd of bystanders.
Gauteng provincial police spokesman, Lieutenant Kay Makhubela, said the police worked for close to three hours on the scene before Mkhize’s body was freed from the car and taken away.
Read: Police officer killed in horror crash
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