Nic Dlamini's arm broken by Table Mountain rangers

[Vetplant]

I need to confess something:

 

I rode a trail in Clarens this weekend after looking for it on Stava. I rode 15min to the trail entry point, at which point I saw a sign that said that I needed a permit. I figured that I have limited time with the Wife babysitting the kids so I will ride it now and go get my Permit through the course of the day while we walk around the town, which I duly did.

 

So do ya'll think if a ranger caught me on the trail he was within his full right to detain me and break my humorous in the process?

 

I took the calculated risk of paying a fine versus ending my ride early, which was worth it. Being arrested and assaulted changes the risk completely.

[Gen]

I don't think complying with any rules really matter to these particular thugs

 

https://twitter.com/MattBeers55/status/1210554969943920641?s=19

 

[Grogs]

Another fee for use that comes to mind is e-tolls. I trust that the entire “if Nic had obeyed the law, this wouldn’t have happened” brigade pays their e-tolls and has an e-tag.

 

Don’t bitch and moan when a SANRAL official breaks your humerus for not having an e-tag while driving on the M1 in Johannesburg.

 

But the moral of the story here is comply, isn’t it?

Edited December 28, 2019 by Grogs

[Gen]

I think his arm will be fine, had the same break in the same place, I'm sure he'll regain full funtion. I agree with recovery time though, could even be a little longer. I did my first MTB race 4 months after my surgery, obviously took it really easy though. Painful weight training helped to build up bone density after months of physio.

It will effect his whole season and possibly cost him a chance at the Olympics.

[SwissVan]

The issue at hand is the breaking of Nic's arm while detaining him. Excessive force.

Nobody said that they should have let him go.

I think everyone agrees breaking an arm was excessive, but you can’t ignore what led up to this.

 

It was a question not a statement:

Should they have just let him continue without trying to stop him, or try to apprehend him and if so, how???

 

How would you have gone about it if you were a ranger at the time?

[DJR]

It will effect his whole season and possibly cost him a chance at the Olympics.

I would bet a bit of money on this ending his Olympic hopes for this time round.

[Gen]

I think everyone agrees breaking an arm was excessive, but you can’t ignore what led up to this.

 

It was a question not a statement:

Should they have just let him continue without trying to stop him, or try to apprehend him and if so, how???

 

How would you have gone about it if you were a ranger at the time?

Perhaps by following your training and know what you can an can not do.. from what I read it seems rangers DO NOT have the authority to arrest or fine anyone.

 

If Nic didn't know he needed a permit for that stretch then they should've explained to him how the permits work and that in future he would need one..take his details down etc But from everything I read they seem to like riding cyclists off the roads regardless if permits have been shown at previous checks.

[Vetplant]

I think everyone agrees breaking an arm was excessive, but you can’t ignore what led up to this.

 

It was a question not a statement:

Should they have just let him continue without trying to stop him, or try to apprehend him and if so, how???

 

How would you have gone about it if you were a ranger at the time?

Cool, I'll play. (I still don't know why we are discussing this, nothing justifies his arm being broken, which is what we are outraged about. But hey, I'm on leave, so let's continue)

 

There are better ways to "get him".

 

1.For one, don't try to stop him on a downhill section. Look for an uphill section that slows him down naturally.

 

2. Make sure you can be seen from a long way off, get his attention to slow down. Put some cones out or some sort of indications that would catch his attention that you have some form of road block.

 

3. If he then decides to ignore you, get in your vehicle and drive up next to him and ask him to stop.

 

4. As a last resort you can consider physically jumping in the road to stop him.

 

Those would be my suggestions, but not necessarily required.

 

I wouldn't sue/fire them for the manner in which they brought him down alone, but that probably did escalate the encounter unnecessarily.

[Jewbacca]

I don't think complying with any rules really matter to these particular thugs

 

https://twitter.com/MattBeers55/status/1210554969943920641?s=19

 

Ok so guys doing their job asking for permits must wait until Matt has done doing an interval? 

 

NO! This does not justify anything, rather point cyclists in a really rubbish, 'my way or no way' better than you culture.

 

We are permitted to ride there and when we do, we agree to the fact that the rangers can and will ask to see your permit. By not stopping when they ask, for whatever reason, you are being a knob.

 

I also say BOLLOCKS to the fact that he didn't know he needed a permit. To get to where he was he had to ride past closed booms with big pictures and signs on. Coupled with the fact that he lives in Capricorn and has been riding the peninsula for years. I call rubbish.

 

Stop and show your card. Stop when asked. If this is going to continue Parks will close silvermine and tokai. This sort of thing isn't worth it. Dealing with people too good to stop when asked.

 

If I was Parks I would have kicked Matt out of the park too and would consider stopping all cyclists from entering the reserve and tokai/silvermine.

 

That way everyone is a rogue rider and they can then focus on catching the 'real' criminals instead of chasing people who are above the rules and couldn't care

[Jewbacca]

Cool, I'll play. (I still don't know why we are discussing this, nothing justifies his arm being broken, which is what we are outraged about. But hey, I'm on leave, so let's continue)

 

There are better ways to "get him".

 

1.For one, don't try to stop him on a downhill section. Look for an uphill section that slows him down naturally.

 

2. Make sure you can be seen from a long way off, get his attention to slow down. Put some cones out or some sort of indications that would catch his attention that you have some form of road block.

 

3. If he then decides to ignore you, get in your vehicle and drive up next to him and ask him to stop.

 

4. As a last resort you can consider physically jumping in the road to stop him.

 

Those would be my suggestions, but not necessarily required.

 

I wouldn't sue/fire them for the manner in which they brought him down alone, but that probably did escalate the encounter unnecessarily.

Apparently they did all of this actually and he continued to ignore them.... 

[Vetplant]

Apparently they did all of this actually and he continued to ignore them....

"Apparently" he was doing 60km/h... I know he won the KOM at the TDU, but that was surely not on an uphill stretch then.

 

Again, all of this is not the point.

 

There are not enough aggravating circumstances to justify the amount of force used.

[DJR]

If the transgression is something as minor as riding without a permit, then the rangers should keep their response at the same level. Ask him to stop, close the boom, set up a road block at the exit. If he still did not comply, then let him go. Video him, take a picture, contact his team, lay a complaint with SAPS. Follow him in their vehicle to wherever he was going. Identify him, fine him, take him to court. Post it on the Bikehub?! Whatever.

 

But NOT grab his handlebars causing him to fall (dangerous in the extreme, people can die from it, end up paralized or brain damaged from it). Certainly NOT arrest him in a violent and brutal enough way to break his arm.

 

Now, if there was very good reason to suspect that a murder, a rape or an armed robbery took place, if the suspect was armed and dangerous, then the use of force might have been justified. I cannot imagine how Nick could have filled these criteria to justify what they did to him.

 

The ranger doing the arm-breaking KNEW he was wrong. The ones standing by doing NOTHING, KNEW they were wrong. The one trying to prevent the totally legal filming of the whole thing KNEW it was wrong and tried to hide their deed!

 

The book should be thrown at them. The BIG book!

 

Nick should get a fine, in line with his transgression, if memory serves me right, it is about R500, the same as a yearly activity card. Not a broken arm and possibly life changing consequences!  

[Rockjock]

Agree with DJR 1000 percent!!!!

[Icycling]

1. I can’t understand as a road cyclist - why we road cyclist are not allowed to ride on the roads (paid for by the tax payer) in Sanparks area. Top of Ou kaapse Weg where the incident happened today is about a 2 km stretch but means if you start from main road Lakeside you get a proper Climb about 448 m elevation. Cape point another road - all these roads are relatively quite in terms of motorized traffic. On roads where most people drive on to get to there activity (the road was not laid by tax payer money to be an activity) - which I can understand why an activity card is need. A road cyclist is just using the road. We don’t even pay the private operators to use Chapman’s peak!

 

2. In the USA to be accepted into the Military you have to do an IQ test. If your IQ is less than 84 the US military has determined you are not “trainable.” I would like to suggest in RSA any government employee, public servant or politician should have to go thou an IQ test and if you job offer you any form of power in government employment your IQ need to be sufficient to handle that power.

 

3. Wishing Nic a speedy recovery.

[Rockjock]

By all means fine him..but these thugs...and thats what they are...should end up behind bars...

[SteveS]

Apparently they did all of this actually and he continued to ignore them.... 

Apparently is the operative word. If it was the Rangers story I would take it with a pinch of salt. These guys have lost all credibility and would say anything to get themselves out of the sh$&. Judging by previous posts on twitter, any lawyer will pull these guys story apart in 5 minutes.