A police dog was struck and killed by a truck on the N3 freeway following a high-speed chase of three wanted men in Pietermaritzburg on Friday.
Durban-bound traffic on the busy freeway came to a standstill when police and the trio‚ who were travelling in a taxi‚ exchanged gunfire. It is unclear at this stage what crime the men are wanted for.
On the opposite side of the freeway more chaos ensued after three rubber-necking motorists collided into each other.
A source on the scene - who did not want to be identified - told TimesLIVE that the trio of suspects shot at police‚ who returned fire‚ hitting two of the men.
“One of the suspects ran across the busy freeway. Police released one of their dogs. The dog managed to tackle the man‚ who reacted by flinging the animal in front of a truck.
“Unfortunately the dog‚ a German Shepherd‚ was killed‚” the source said.
One of the suspects was taken to hospital while a third suspect‚ who was critically injured‚ died on the scene.
In the ensuing chaos‚ emergency services had to also attend to the accident on the opposite side of the freeway‚ in the vicinity of the shoot-out.
“Three vehicles were involved in a pile-up‚ which is believed to be caused by rubber-necking. The injured were taken to hospital.”
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane confirmed the incident.
“We don’t have the details as yet as our members are on the scene‚” he said on Friday morning.
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