On video: SAfrican police drag man who later dies
March 1, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THEY bound his hands to the rear of a van, and then sped off, dragging the slender taxi driver along the pavement as a crowd of onlookers shouted in dismay. The man was later found dead.
A gut-wrenching video of the scene is all the more disturbing because the men who abused the Mozambican immigrant were uniformed South African police officers and the van was a marked police vehicle.
The Daily Sun, a South African newspaper, posted the video footage yesterday and it was quickly picked up by other South African news outlets and carried on the Internet. It sparked immediate outrage.
"They are there for safety, but we as a people fear them more," said Johannesburg resident Alfonso Adams. "You don't know who to trust anymore."
Some of those in the crowd who watched the scene unfold in the Daveyton township east of Johannesburg shouted at the police and warned that it was being videotaped. The police did not seem at all concerned by all the witnesses and the presence of cameras as they tied Mido Macia, a 27-year-old from neighboring Mozambique, to the back of a police vehicle, his hands behind his head. At least three policemen participated in the incident.
Macia was found dead in a Daveyton police cell late Tuesday.
A murder probe is underway on the evidence that Macia suffered head and upper abdomen injuries, including internal bleeding, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate said yesterday. The injuries could be from the dragging and he could also have been beaten later in police custody.
The police watchdog agency said the incident started just before 7pm on Tuesday when the cab driver was allegedly obstructing traffic with his vehicle.
Then the taxi driver allegedly assaulted a constable and took his weapon before he was overpowered, the police investigative unit said.
A gut-wrenching video of the scene is all the more disturbing because the men who abused the Mozambican immigrant were uniformed South African police officers and the van was a marked police vehicle.
The Daily Sun, a South African newspaper, posted the video footage yesterday and it was quickly picked up by other South African news outlets and carried on the Internet. It sparked immediate outrage.
"They are there for safety, but we as a people fear them more," said Johannesburg resident Alfonso Adams. "You don't know who to trust anymore."
Some of those in the crowd who watched the scene unfold in the Daveyton township east of Johannesburg shouted at the police and warned that it was being videotaped. The police did not seem at all concerned by all the witnesses and the presence of cameras as they tied Mido Macia, a 27-year-old from neighboring Mozambique, to the back of a police vehicle, his hands behind his head. At least three policemen participated in the incident.
Macia was found dead in a Daveyton police cell late Tuesday.
A murder probe is underway on the evidence that Macia suffered head and upper abdomen injuries, including internal bleeding, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate said yesterday. The injuries could be from the dragging and he could also have been beaten later in police custody.
The police watchdog agency said the incident started just before 7pm on Tuesday when the cab driver was allegedly obstructing traffic with his vehicle.
Then the taxi driver allegedly assaulted a constable and took his weapon before he was overpowered, the police investigative unit said.
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