Hi all

Yesterday Monday 2016-06-13 at between 02:45 and 03:00 another police officer friend of mine was gunned down.  I know that some of you will be telling me to look after myself and be safe outside, but then I can think of this to say, if it is my time to die, no matter what I do and where I go, I will die.  So I prefer to face everything head on so I know, I went out the way I lived and believed in, my way.

Yesterday's guy was on police college with me and at the interim police station before college.  So we grew close and hugged as a greeting and made as if we kissed to freak the hell out of people sometimes.  He was a soft soul, that I respected, adored, would protect with my life, and could trust with my life.  He was one of those police members that almost never lost his temper, and would do what it takes and usually went above and beyond the call of duty.

What saddened me was that I went to take keys to the scene 6 almost 7 hours later and unbeknown to me he was still lying on the ground where they gunned him down.  Something in me told me not to go closer and just leave the key with one of the seniors and went back to the station.  When I drove by another 6 to 7 hours later they were still busy with the scene and only 2 and half three hours prior to that removed his body from the scene and he laid there for 10-11 hours before they were allowed to move him.

As I'm typing this to commemorate the life of a friend Mthetho Sandla, my tears are welling up, as I will never get to hold him in my arms, smell him, see him in front of me, or laugh with him.

Okay in all the good he did, I should probably say this, mention one thing where you could see how much I cared for him.  Last year while I was still on the shift, I was called in by the ladies on my shift, because Mthetho was in a predicament and being arrested for drunken driving with a traffic officer.  I got to the station, asked if I may speak to him, and asked how he was doing?  He just laughed and said he is alright.  I asked why and how he was arrested?  He had some drinks and his fiance instructed him to fetch her, even after he told her that he had something to drink and don't want to drive.  She became insistent and forced him to fetch her, where he was pulled off in the area and got arrested.  I went inside to ask the Warrant Officer whom was writing the books to sort him out, because he can't go in the sells where he has arrested so many people before.  The Captain of my shift was out and when he heard about it he also came in and heard me begging for Mthetho's safety.  When the Warrant insisted he could do nothing, I told him to if he can't do something, I will and I won't go out until this is sorted out.  (In South Africa if a government official was locked up for drunken driving we are allowed to give them a free bail and warn them to appear in court the first court date that comes after that, but certain police, traffic, metro will let that person lie in the sells because they aren't nice.  I'm not saying that police will be released when they committed murder, rape or anything like that.  But had a glass or two too many.)  I processed him like any other criminal and he was laughing all the way, telling me that as a student I was always the suspect and always got inked up, it only seems fair that he feels how it feels to be inked up.  The charging was done and I wrote out the police bail for him and my Captain signed because no one else wanted to, and my rank wasn't high enough at the time, but I was willing to take the punch for a person I knew wouldn't ever be locked up for committing a robbery, murder or rape.  He was looking for his car keys and told me to give to him as he sobered up enough to be under limit.  I told him, I charged you, I released you, and I love and respect you to much to let you drive home, because I can tell him with all honesty that the traffic were informed where you living and are covering all routes there.  I will either go home after my shift ends unless he promises to stay home on our friendship, and for the first time in his life he allowed me to drive the vehicle home, where I parked it and he went inside.  Yes, I kept the key in case his fiance called again, as I knew he needed to sleep and handed the keys over to her during the day.

I know this sounds like I got the back of my friends, but if I know they don't drive like that and it was because they were forced, I will help them.  And I believe that no peace officer (traffic, metro, correctional, police, ens) should be placed in a sell where they might just end up with the person they arrested or could be killed in there, so I have a soft spot for all people.  And when I know that they aren't a threat or I know where and how to find them.  So I didn't just do this for a friend, but a guy that was nice when he didn't notice he knew me, and the previous times he saw me he was reprimanding me for nothing.  After that he said he will never be that way again... I haven't checked if he remembered me, but should.  When someone at work said but they can't release him because they can't verify anything of him.  I came forth and said, he works there, he asked me how I knew, and I told him he was shouting at me when he saw me the first time and subsequently seemed to dislike.  He said, he never actually looked who it was, when I described my car to him, he remembered the incident well and that was that.

Mthetho, in all the years I've known you (beginning of January 2005, 10th of Jan we went to college), you never disrespected me, showed me the caring and loving side of you.  I can't forget you, and I love how you were a part of my life and made it that much richer.  Don't worry about the tears in my eyes babez, it isn't just tears of sadness, but tears sent into the universe to spread the news that an angel has been set free to grace the world of his mercy as God would want it to be.  And don't think that it will get easier, I will just learn how to deal with the sorrow and the pain.  Mthetho say hello to Luntu, and my father from me.  Even though I know they are reading this message with you as I am saying.

Lots of LOVE, RESPECT AND ADORATION FOR A FRIEND I CAN'T AND WON'T REPLACE, BOTH YOU AND LUNTU ARE ON MY MIND.'

Daddy I still speak of you to people, miss you too.  Love you so much.

I think I typed more the enough to remember Mthetho.

Luntu, I will never forget us sharing smileys, we had a lot a food we shared.  You told me I'm black on the inside and white on the outside.  I remember how I got beaten in a fight and you also couldn't handle the guy, but the blows you guys gave made me fly, and in the end it took both of us to get the suspect under control, and it was the first time you saw that I am human and capable of being beaten.

Lots of Love, Hugs and Kisses

Michele