Outcry in Brazil as video shows a Sao Paulo police officer throwing a man off a bridge

[December 04, 2024]  By ELÉONORE HUGHES

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A military police officer in Brazil 's biggest metropolitan area was seen on video throwing a man off a bridge and into a river, prompting a backlash.

Footage shown on local television stations shows several Sao Paulo state officers on a bridge Monday besides motorcycles and a man in a blue T-shirt they had been chasing. At one point, one of the officers approaches the man and lifts him up by the legs before tipping him over the edge.

For much of Tuesday it remained unclear whether the man had survived, though later in the day local media reported that he did. Still, the footage was shocking and prompted outrage even in a state where police violence is on the rise.

"How absurd, how cowardly, how disgusting,” journalist and television personality Guga Noblat said on X.

Sao Paulo’s military police force has identified the officers involved and suspended them, according to a statement from the state's secretariat of public security. It also repudiated the officers' conduct and said it was launching an investigation.

The statement gave no details about the man in the blue T-shirt, why he was wanted by police or his status after he was thrown into the river.

Also in Sao Paulo, footage obtained and published Monday by local media G1 showed an off-duty military police officer last month firing a series of shots at a young man who had stolen packets of soap, killing him.

“Those who shoot people in the back, those who go so far as to throw someone off a bridge, are clearly not fit to wear this uniform. These cases will be investigated and severely punished,” Sao Paulo’s Gov. Tarcísio de Freitas said in a statement on X.

De Freitas is an ally of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly voiced support for giving police carte blanche to kill criminals.

De Freitas took office in Jan. 2023, and some have characterized him as more moderate than Bolsonaro. Those who disagree have pointed to the uptick in police violence on his watch, and he is facing increasing pressure from watchdogs.

During his first year in power, the number of teenagers killed by police rose by 58.3% increase compared to 2022, according to a survey by the Sou da Paz Institute for local media outlet UOL.

Between January and August 2024, Sao Paulo’s police killed 510 people, a 56% increase compared to 327 killings in the same period in 2023, according to a survey by Sou da Paz, based on data from Sao Paulo’s secretariat of public security.

The incidents are not the result of “bad apples,” but rather reflect a systemic problem, Sao Paulo state’s human rights council said in a statement on Tuesday. It called for greater external control of the military police corps.

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