South African police officers arrested over taxi driver video
Eight police officers accused of dragging a taxi driver behind their patrol car and killing him have been arrested on murder charges. Their arrests came hours after South Africa's police commisioner said they had been disarmed and suspended for "callous and unacceptable behaviour". The station commander has also been removed from his post pending investigation.
Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia, 27, was filmed being manhandled,
handcuffed and dragged by a police van through the streets to a police station
east of Johannesburg. Some two hours later, he was found dead in custoy, with a
post mortem finding the cause of death head injuries with internal bleeding.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has opened a murder
investigation.
A still from the video shows Mido Macia as he is dragged
behind a police van in Johannesburg (EPA)
Footage of the incident, condemned by Jacob Zuma, the South African
president, as "horrific," spread quickly online, once again shining a spotlight
on the conduct of the country's much maligned police force.
Investigators are said to have been told that the taxi driver assaulted one
of the police officers and took his gun.
New footage posted by South Africa's Daily Sun, which obtained the original video, yesterday appeared to contradict officers' version of events.
It appears to show the cab driver arguing with police officers with his hands by his side, before he is manhandled to the ground by up to five men in uniform.
Riah Phiyega, South Africa's police commissioner, said that the episode was being thoroughly investigated.
"Any one death is one too many," she said, adding that "what is in the video is not how the SAPS (South African Police Service) in a democratic South Africa goes about its work."
South Africa's police service is under intese pressure after a series of incidents which has tarnished its reputation. Last August, 34 striking miners were shot dead by police.
It was also humiliated when it emerged that the officer investigating the murder case against star sprinter Oscar Pistorius himself faced charges of attempted murder for shooting at a taxi.
Mr Macia had moved to South Africa as 10-year-old boy when his parents travelled to work on the mines, according to Mozambican high commissioner Fernando Fazenda, who has appointed an advocate to represent the family.
He came from the town Macia 100 miles north of Maputo. His wife and son had been on holiday in Mozambique and are returning to South Africa.
New footage posted by South Africa's Daily Sun, which obtained the original video, yesterday appeared to contradict officers' version of events.
It appears to show the cab driver arguing with police officers with his hands by his side, before he is manhandled to the ground by up to five men in uniform.
Riah Phiyega, South Africa's police commissioner, said that the episode was being thoroughly investigated.
"Any one death is one too many," she said, adding that "what is in the video is not how the SAPS (South African Police Service) in a democratic South Africa goes about its work."
South Africa's police service is under intese pressure after a series of incidents which has tarnished its reputation. Last August, 34 striking miners were shot dead by police.
It was also humiliated when it emerged that the officer investigating the murder case against star sprinter Oscar Pistorius himself faced charges of attempted murder for shooting at a taxi.
Mr Macia had moved to South Africa as 10-year-old boy when his parents travelled to work on the mines, according to Mozambican high commissioner Fernando Fazenda, who has appointed an advocate to represent the family.
He came from the town Macia 100 miles north of Maputo. His wife and son had been on holiday in Mozambique and are returning to South Africa.
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