South Africa: 'Man Dragged Behind Police Van'

http://news.sky.com/story/1058102/south-africa-man-dragged-behind-police-van

South Africa: 'Man Dragged Behind Police Van'
Shocking footage emerges of alleged police brutality after which a 27-year-old taxi driver died in custody.

[video]

A taxi driver in South Africa died after being handcuffed to a police vehicle and dragged hundreds of yards, it has been alleged.

Independent police investigators are looking into the claims after video footage emerged showing a man being dragged along a road behind a police van.

The man, named locally as 27-year-old Mido Macia from Mozambique, was later found dead in a police cell in Daveyton, Johannesburg, on Tuesday.

Officers have claimed they put Mr Macia in a police van in order to take him to a police station on the East Rand, and cannot explain how he later died.

But the video, obtained by South Africa's Daily Sun newspaper, shows officers struggling to overpower a man - believed to be the taxi driver - before attaching him to a point at the rear of their vehicle and then driving off leaving him hanging outside.



Officers are seen restraining the man and handcuffing him to the van

At one point they attempt to carry his legs while the vehicle is moving forward but have to drop him as the police van speeds up.

The footage then shows the man trying to stay on his feet as he is dragged behind the vehicle for several hundred metres.

The person filming the incident attempts to keep up with the truck dragging the taxi driver, but has to give up as the vehicle is going too fast.

Inmates in the cells he was taken to, have claimed he was later beaten to death by police.

South Africa's Independent Police Investigation Directorate (IPID) said on Wednesday that officers had initially attempted to arrest Mr Macia because he was allegedly obstructing traffic.

IPID spokesman Moses Dlamini said: "We are investigating an incident involving the death of man, allegedly at the hands of the police. We are shocked by the footage which has been released.

"The circumstances surrounding his death are still allegations ... let's find out what really happened," he said.

He said there were reports Mr Macia had tried to disarm a police officer before the attack.

The taxi driver was then allegedly beaten once inside the police holding cells.

He is understood to have been found dead by another police officer later the same day.

Mr Dlamini told the South African website News 24 that an investigation had begun before Mr Macia's death into allegations he carried out an assault resulting in grievous bodily harm.

A post-mortem on the dead suspect indicated he had died from head injuries with internal bleeding.

Police in South Africa are known for heavy handedness when dealing with the public, and the police watchdog is handling numerous cases of police brutality.

In the 12 months before March 2010, according to Amnesty International, there were 920 complaints of serious assault and 294 deaths in custody.

The police department could not confirm if the officers had been suspended.

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I am afraid the Rainbow Nation is looking more like a hellhole with every passing day....

I can't look at the video. Speechless.

It's horrific, Lily - the kind of thing which has led to American extremists getting the death penalty.

Dreadful. They scream loud enough when the perpetrator is white, but when it's a back person, silence. LL

I can see it going the same way as Zimbabwe, frankly. With the only difference being that their corrupt leaders will get a cut of the profits from the gold mines, etc.

It is just shocking. Quite a few people from there pass through here. Sometimes buying property. So much violence in so many places. Here, I have never felt so safe.

I don't even want to think about this. But I could have told you all twenty years ago that this would happen.
But my views weren't welcomed then, and I don't suppose they would be now.

I doubt if you are the only person thinking that way, Sabot. It all seems to be going horribly wrong, after all those fine words at the start of the new republic.

Don't tempt me Bonny. You would probably have to ban me for being a Racist, although in fact I am not. But that is the horrible pity of it all. Too much Tribal influence which sadly most Europeans do not understand. But it is ingrained. And actually no real reason for why it shouldn't be. I mean that it just is.
But when one is not even allowed to express an opinion in Britain, then there isn't much hope for the immediate future in Africa.

My friends, this was taken from Sky News:

http://news.sky.com/story/1058585/south-africa-cops-charged-over-van-man-murder