Man Falls to His Death from Building During Police Drug Probe in Bloemfontein
The South African Police Service (SAPS) at Parkweg Police Station has opened an inquest docket after a 33-year-old man fell to his death from the second floor of Kenlin Court in Douglas Street, located within the Bloemfontein Central Business District (CBD).
The incident occurred at approximately 11:00 on Friday morning while members of the Bloemfontein K9 unit were conducting an ongoing drug investigation.
According to police reports, K9 unit members were escorting a suspect who had previously been arrested for the possession of drugs.
Officers were in the process of tracing and investigating the original source of the illicit substances when they stopped their vehicle in Douglas Street.
As the police vehicle came to a halt, an unidentified African male suddenly fled and ran into the nearby Kenlin Court residential building.
K9 unit members immediately pursued the fleeing man up the building’s stairwell.
The individual reached a specific residential unit on the second floor, quickly opened the door, ran inside, and locked the external security gate behind him to prevent police entry.
While officers were dealing with the locked security gate, they heard a commotion and people shouting from the street below.
Upon looking outside to investigate the noise, police discovered that the same man who had just fled into the unit was lying motionless on the sidewalk below.
Emergency medical services and crime scene experts were urgently dispatched to the scene, where the man was officially declared deceased.
During the initial on-scene forensic investigation, authorities discovered the key to the unit’s security door underneath the deceased man’s body where he fell.
The circumstances surrounding how the man went through the window remain subject to the ongoing police investigation.
Parkweg SAPS has requested anyone with further information regarding the incident to come forward.
