Dimension Data rider Nic Dlamini was arrested with force and bundled into the back of a van with a broken arm in South Africa earlier today.
A video has emerged of the incident - which is included at the bottom of this piece - as another cyclist in the area took footage on his phone.
Dlamini, a 24-year-old about to go into his third year at WorldTour level, was arrested by SANParks personnel while training in Table Mountain National Park.
The video of the incident, recorded by a rider who came upon the scene, shows him being arrested with force and clearly feeling severe pain; later diagnosed as a badly broken arm.
He was then bundled into the back of a
van being driven by the Table Mountain National Park rangers as one of them
tried to stop the cyclist who was recording the incident.
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South African pro cyclist Dlamini was later examined in hospital and has suffered what looks like a severe break to the humerous bone just above his elbow.
"We are aware of a video in which
one of our riders, Nic Dlamini, was involved in an incident in Cape Town
earlier today," Dimension Data, soon to be NTT Pro Cycling, said in a statement.
"He is currently undergoing medical
assessment after which we'll be able to provide a full update on what
transpired."
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SANParks claimed in a statement that Dlamini had entered the national park without paying the conservation fee or showing a permit when requested.
"Table Mountain National Park
rangers were informed about the incident and upon investigating and finding the
cyclist who could not produce his entry ticket or a valid activity permit the
situation spiraled causing the suspect to injure himself during the
ordeal," read the statement.
The cyclist who recorded the video, Donovan Le Cok, said he was not riding with Dlamini but had seen him training.
He said when Dlamini was exiting the park a group of six rangers tried to grab him, causing him to crash. Le Cok added Dlamini was then grabbed by one of the rangers and manhandled.
"The large senior ranger laid into
Nic, who is a skinny small guy," Le Cok said of how the incident unfolded.
"Then (the ranger) turned him
around and twisted his arm until it snapped. It was audibly loud and Nic screamed.
“Nic kept shouting 'my arm is broken, my
arm is broke'. The officials then proceeded to throw Nic into the back of the
van.
"I stopped filming as the officials
then started getting aggressive towards me. They tried to grab my phone and my
hand."
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