Nic Dlamini's arm broken by Table Mountain rangers

[McD23]

maybe the woman would have bought her entry fee, and stopped when requested when caught out.

I'm getting the distinct impression that there's a deliberate haze around the circumstances leading up to where we have visual footage. Handlebars being pulled, reportedly at high speed? It's very easy to pass out of hand as unacceptable, but it requires assumption that Dlamini did absolutely nothing wrong. but let's not forget he didn't have his entry permit.

 

shock and horror..he didnt have a permit to ride on land that our and his tax paying money paid for. Think about that for a second..

 

[scotty]

So even if nic was trespassing, cheeky and resisted you still feel you cant make judgement on how they handled him after clearly breaking his arm ?

Forget the legality.

The simple human act of showing concern for what is clearly a traumatic injury that they don't bother acknowledging. Love to see your stance if that was you or a loved one in the same situation...

And your judgement call will be. Feel free to be specific and not merely wishy washy "they should have handled it differently". 

[Patchelicious]

Any suggestion if i don't want to pay or produce my trail permit and insist on cycling on what the official should do.

Not breaking your arm is a good start.

 

I am not educated on what they are legally allowed to do, so if somebody is trespassing, perhaps calling the police would be a good step?

 

If the park rangers do have the right to “arrest” people, then they need undergo the correct training and make the arrest within the correct procedures.

[scotty]

Not breaking your arm is a good start.

 

I am not educated on what they are legally allowed to do, so if somebody is trespassing, perhaps calling the police would be a good step?

 

If the park rangers do have the right to “arrest” people, then they need undergo the correct training and make the arrest within the correct procedures.

Yeah, does not help with the question of how exactly the rangers deal with someone who refuses to produce a permit. Nic had the opportunity to leave if he did not have his permit. 

 

Do the rangers have the authority to over ride the decision of management that everyone must have a permit. If they do look the other way and are suspended/fired how many keyboard warriors will join the protest in getting them re-instated.  

Edited December 28, 2019 by scotty

[scotty]

Not breaking your arm is a good start.

 

I am not educated on what they are legally allowed to do, so if somebody is trespassing, perhaps calling the police would be a good step?

 

If the park rangers do have the right to “arrest” people, then they need undergo the correct training and make the arrest within the correct procedures.

You also missing the point that Nic refused to be stopped. Call the police ? Will Nic stand around waiting for them to come and if he still plans to enter how do they prevent him. If he does enter are the police expected to arrive with MTB so they can pursue him on the trails. ? 

[Shebeen]

I honestly don't why sanparks get tmnp. They've had it for just over 20 years now, and have essentially done nothing to make it better. They only got it so it could be classified a world heritage site.

 

The road he is on they inherited, the tented camp next to it has been shut down since the 2015 fires. It wasn't damaged at all, but they are just too useless to make it work.

 

Sanparks do not deserve tmnp, as they only use it to send money to Pretoria. Extortionate pricing on Cape Point a recent development.

 

Case in point, this is from the Sanparks press release :

"TMNP is 24 000 hectares and the funds currently utilised for veld infrastructure, conservation and management, which includes cycle tracks, is far in excess of the money raised by the activity permit system."

 

That is total crap, they spend a grand total of zero rands on cycle tracks.

 

 

Ps. Legal owner of both an activity card level the and family wildcats

[wessie12]

If you ghouls want to moan about someone not getting a permit, go and start a separate thread about people who don’t get permits when they go to parks. I hope you also condemn people who don’t pay their etolls in that thread

 

This thread is about a vicious assault (and possibly an attempted murder) of an unarmed citizen who posed no immediate threat to anybody.

 

Again, Nic’s having or not having a permit is totally and completely irrelevant in condemning the actions of the thugs who assaulted him.

"Possibly an attempted murder" ????. Yoh. Thats a bit rof. No question assault GBH.

[Patchelicious]

You also missing the point that Nic refused to be stopped. Call the police ? Will Nic stand around waiting for them to come and if he still plans to enter how do they prevent him. If he does enter are the police expected to arrive with MTB so they can pursue him on the trails. ?

So what do you suggest?

[Thomo]

Cycling's equivalent of Siya Kolisi...

I wonder whether Siya has a bike.

Perhaps he, Beast and Trevor Nyakane can go for a spin without permits - that'll level the playing fields a bit.

[scotty]

So what do you suggest?

My question is posed at the comments that it could have been handled differently. Sure, now lets hear them. Its easy to do the knee jerk reaction, but put yourself in the rangers shoes, what should they have done. I doubt the Ranger tried to outdo that testosterone thug who broke the dogs leg and thought I can do better. No where in the footage did I hear him say to Nic, I am going to snap your arm. Rough handling, sure, but it appears only 1 Ranger was involved, If Nic was bigger and stronger I'm sure the others would have joined. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by scotty

[wessie12]

The actions of the rangers is disgusting and I hope they are dealt with accordingly. No matter how you look at it Nic did not deserved to be handled like that. On the other side Nic should have known better and as a high profile cyclist set an example. Just obey the rules finish and klaar. We all know that small things can escalate very quickly in sunny SA. This is exactly what happens when you mix two wrongs.

[Edereese]

We will never know the full story.

‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’

All of this would have been avoided if he did not go ride without a permit.

The rangers are there to serve and protect and sadly if you are on the wrong side of the law, **** happens.

I feel for Nic and how it’s going to affect his career, I wish him a speedy recovery.

As for the rangers, I feel for them too because I get to do various trails with my family and feel safe and secure while doing so.

[scotty]

He could have bought a permit?

Now if he had his permit, produced it AND they still roughed him up, throw the book at them. 

 

I can only imagine what would happen if I rocked up at Suikerbosrand on my bike, refused to pay and insisted on pushing past security there. At least if I'm injured in any way I'll have comfort of Hub sympathy. 

[Edereese]

Also, I was stopped before and had no permit. Humbly apologized, was told to get a permit in future and that was the end of it.

[DJR]

Many questions have been asked about how the rangers could have handled it differently. Here is another way, that, I think, would have been better than arresting him and breaking his arm:

 

Before the ranger tried to physically subdue him and arrest him and chuck him, broken arm and all, into the back of a bakkie, the rangers already had full control of his bike. Confiscate the bike, tell him to come and pay the fine to get his bike back. 

 

Traffic cops confiscate your phone, legally, if you talk while driving. Why not a bike? Why arrest someone for something like a permit issue?

Edited December 28, 2019 by DJR

[marko35s]

Dough Ryder on Cape Talk this morning , Nic didnt know he had to pay to ride on that section of road ...he had ridden there many times even with some international team mates ?

The problem with that is you have to pass through a pay point to get to that road on a road bike.

Not condoning what happened here but it's a hard sell if the "I didn't know" defence is going to be used.