Peter en Pamela Kantor. (Photo: Facebook)
The husband of a Johannesburg woman who survived an incident when a bakkie from a private security company drove over her, describes the fact that she is alive as a “miracle that he will never fully understand”, but also one that wakes her up crying at night.
Peter Kantor says his wife, Pamela, constantly relives that moment when she ended up under the vehicle.
CCTV footage of the March 16 incident, timestamped at 09:39, has been widely shared on social media in recent times. Pamela was walking in the road when the reverse moving van hit her from behind.
In the first few seconds, one can see Kantor, dressed in a red long-sleeved top and black cap, walking down the street in Glensan in Johannesburg. A black safety van from CAP, a community safety group, which was parked on the side of the road, moved backwards and ran over her.
Kantor reportedly has bruises and bruises and has injured ligaments and tendons.
Peter wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that watching the video again is a “cycle I cannot break. How she survived is a miracle I will never fully understand”.
CAP posted a written response on its Facebook page on Tuesday, saying it is reviewing operating protocols and driver behavior policy following the incident. According to the company, this is done to ensure additional lessons are learned and further possible precautions are taken “to prevent a recurrence of such a nature”.
Peter labels the incident as something that was not a simple “accident”, but “shows a level of negligence that cannot possibly be ignored”.
However, CAP says in response that the moment the company became aware of the incident, an internal investigation was launched.
“There is no evidence that the incident was deliberate. It happened as a result of human error. Due to its serious nature, the staff member was responsibly dismissed.”
Peter writes in his post that he and Pamela are still trying to make sense of the events and that it is not about financial compensation, but accountability. “It’s about a company admitting that its operational failure almost led to a death. We’re looking for our sense of security back, but all we’ve been given is distance, bureaucratic ‘processes’ and empty words,” he wrote in the post.
He thanked family, friends and the community for their kindness and support during this time.
CAP says the incident is not a reflection of what the company stands for and the standards it maintains. “Our primary concern is the well-being of the woman in question and we sincerely apologize to her and her family at what is undoubtedly a traumatic time”.