On Thursday 27th August 2020, Nathaniel Julius - a down-syndrome 16 year-old teenager - was shot in Eldorado Park, Gauteng allegedly by a police officer. The young boys death sparked outrage in the community of Eldorado Park, with members of the community calling for justice for the death of the teenager who lived with Down syndrome. It is alleged Nathaniel had left to to obtain food for his family and, while outside, saw a police van with emergency lights on. According to reports, the teenager was unarmed and became excited and police shot at him and dragged into a police van. Police then rushed him to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital where they have also been accused of trying to cover up the events surrounding the shooting. Nathaniel later died in hospital. President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his condolences to the family of Nathaniel who has been deprived of a future and whose tragic death has caused anger and unrest in the coloured community, adding that the death of any young person was a matter of concern.
On Friday 28th August 2020, IPID spokesperson Ndileka Cola said they struggled to conduct their work the previous day because of the volatile situation in the community, however since then the Police watchdog has annnouced they were investigating Nathaniel’s death “as a result of police action”. An allegation was then made against an officer known as 'Scorpion', however IPID head Jennifer Ntlatseng said the police watchdog had conducted a ballistics analysis, which found that the bullet which killed the teenager was not from Scorpion’s gun and that she had been told by members of the local Community Policing Forum that Scorpion was a “no nonsense police officer” and in fact not a villain as depicted by the media. Eldorado Park residents protest outside the police station following the death of 16-year-old Nathaniel Julies, who was allegedly shot by police after they allegedly became frustrated with his responses to their questions.
Ntlatseng said IPID was also busy reconstructing the crime scene to determine if the version of events they had received from the police was consistent, adding that they were looking at a period of about two weeks to conclude their investigation and the four officers would be moved from the Eldorado Park Police Station until investigations were complete. The suspected officers were arrested on Friday night. Members of the community also demanded arrested community leaders be released and Bheki Cele said the police would arrange with the prosecution to see if they could be released on Friday 28th August 2020 ahead of their court appearance on Monday 31th August 2020, facing murder charges and "possibly defeating the ends of justice".An additional charge of possession of prohibited ammunition, which was confirmed by Independent Police Investigative Directorate spokesperson, Ndileka Cola, has been added to the charges against two police officers implicated in Eldorado Park teenager, Nathaniel Julius', murder.
His death, allegedly at the hands of the South African police, has also raised the question of whether coloured lives matter and has once again brought into sharp focus the level of police brutality suffered by black communities in South Africa. His death has united the coloured community and given it a chance to express its views on coloured culture and the continued neglected suffering of coloured communities. Rightly or wrongly, as a result, some have chosen to distance the coloured community from the Black Lives Matter movement, electing to rally behind what they call "Coloured Lives Matter". However that is not the import of what needs to be said about police brutality and South Africa’s culture of violence today. There is said to be hopes that his killing will highlight what needs to be fixed within the South African police force.
Done by Erin Johnson
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