Police suspended in South Africa drag-death case; victim had parked in wrong spot
Eight officers allegedly involved in the death of a man who was bound and then dragged by a police vehicle have been suspended and the local police commander has been removed from his post, South Africa’s police chief has announced.
General Riah Phiyega said today that she shares “the extreme shock and outrage” over the abuse of the immigrant and supports the investigation by the police watchdog agency.
The rights of Mido Macia, a 27-year-old from neighbouring Mozambique, were “violated in the most extreme form”, she said.
The detention and dragging of the man, a taxi driver who had parked in the wrong spot, was videotaped by members of a horrified crowd of onlookers.
The scandal is the latest to undermine confidence in South Africa’s police force, which has expanded from 120,000 to nearly 200,000 over a decade.
“When dealing with 200,000 employees, it is never an easy environment,” Gen Phiyega said. “There will always be incident such as this.”
Late on Tuesday, a crowd in the Daveyton township east of Johannesburg watched as police officers tried to put Mr Macia into the back of their vehicle, bound his hands to the rear of it with his body on the ground, then drove off.
A murder probe by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, the police watchdog agency, is underway on evidence that Mr Macia suffered head and upper abdomen injuries, including internal bleeding. The injuries could be from the dragging and he could also have been beaten later in police custody.
Gen Phiyega said the police force would also carry out its own internal investigation and said the Daveyton station commander was removed “so that the investigations can proceed uninhibited”.
[comment]The video can be seen here (note: Graphic content).[/comment]
