South African police are being inquired about the death of a man that was dragged behind a police van. 27 year old Mido Macia, who was a taxi driver from Mozambique, was tied to the back of a police van and dragged while bystanders looked on and asking what he had done, as seen in the footage provided along with the article. Two and a half hours later, after being dragged off to prison, Macia was found dead in a local police cell. The cause of death was said to be head injuries with internal bleeding. South Africa's police force is already being hit with allegations of brutality, corruption, and incompetence. After seeing the footage, President Jacob Zuma labeled it as "horrific, disturbing, and unacceptable. No human being should be treated in that manner". The IPID, Independent Police Investigative Directorate, launched interrogation and details of the police officers involved. The officers said that Macia assaulted an officer and took his firearm after they had asked him to move his taxi because it was obstructing traffic. Amnesty International human rights organization's director, Noel Kututwa said that this incident was the latest in an increasingly disturbing pattern of brutal police conduct in South Africa. This incidents comes after a series of setbacks for the South African police force, struggling to demonstrate that the low paid, reputedly poorly trained officers can be trusted to uphold or even obey the law.
When viewing the footage, I saw nowhere where Macia was able to physically touch any of the officers because his hands were already tied behind his back. Macia's death raises concerns about the treatment of immigrants. In 2008, Mozimbacans were among the migrants targeted by rioters, and attacks against foreigners have continued, including allegations of police brutality. The IPID has received 720 new cases to undergo investigation of suspicious deaths in custody or in other policing contexts from April 2011 to March 2012.
This is article that shows how the police force abuses their powers. The footage shows that the police force of South Africa cannot not be trusted to obey the law in taking a person into custody and that they are clearly abusing their powers of being a member of law enforcement. As stated in the article, South African police officers are continuing to be poorly trained. Every country, nation, state, and the like has a different way of taking people into custody, however dragging someone off to jail, literally, is not the way to do so. After reading this article, these officers either need to be retrained or removed from the police force and replaced by officers who will obey the law while doing their job.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/28/man-dies-south-africa-police-van
Tiara Paylor
2/28/13 10:33 pm
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