S. Africa Police Probing Attack on American

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —  Two traffic officers stood by and watched as a white man attacked a high-level black American businessman, the Sunday Independent newspaper reported.

Ron Gault, head of the U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan’s office in South Africa, suffered a broken nose in the attack. The officers, who remain on duty, are being investigated for failing to arrest the attacker, police spokesman Inspector Willem de Villiers told the Associated Press on Sunday.

The incident occurred Oct. 15 in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Norwood. Police arrested the assault suspect, Craig Lee Viakovsky, on Nov. 2, more than two weeks after the attack, de Villiers said. Viakovsky appeared in court on assault charges the same day and was released after posting $660 bail.

The attack on Gault began after the two traffic officers bumped Gault’s wife, CNN correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault, with their patrol car, the Sunday Independent reported.

An argument between Gault and the officers ensued, and Viakovsky, who earlier had been sitting with the officers at a restaurant across the street, joined the argument and allegedly assaulted Gault, the paper reported.

The traffic officers are also being investigated for reckless driving, de Villiers said.

Traffic police are obliged to make arrests when a crime is suspected, de Villiers said. The two officers, though, will likely keep their jobs even if found guilty, he said.

“They will probably receive suspended sentences and a warning not to be so naughty,” he said.

Gault came to South Africa three years ago to establish a local presence for J.P. Morgan, one of the world’s largest investment banks.

Post-apartheid South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, and racial attacks are commonplace.

Last week, six white police officers were arrested after an amateur video showed them repeatedly setting their dogs on three black illegal immigrants from Mozambique.