Cape Town metro police were “gobsmacked” when a brazen motorist allegedly took a swig of brandy straight out the bottle when he was stopped at a roadblock.
The 29-year-old was pulled over at the checkpoint on the corner of Saxdowne and Hindle roads and officers “noticed an open brandy bottle between his legs”.
“As they approached him he took one last swig from the bottle,” the city said in a statement on Monday.
While the officers were interviewing the motorist, they noticed he was unsteady on his feet so he was arrested and taken to Mfuleni police station.
The city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said that level of brazenness could not be tolerated and hoped the courts took his behaviour into consideration when deciding on a punishment.
“We continue to see too many people with a total disregard for the law, which jeopardises public safety, and only harsh consequences from the courts for their actions will turn this tide,” said Smith.
The motorist was one of 194 people arrested by the city’s enforcement agencies over the past week.
The city’s traffic authorities made 80 arrests, impounded 169 vehicles and 186 cellphones, and issued 60,221 fines.
A drag racing operation in Durbanville netted 15 suspects of which 13 were allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. A similar operation in the Eerste River and Bellville areas led to the arrest of eight people, four of whom were under the influence.
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