Brazilian man gassed to death in police car boot
Brazil: Black man gassed to death in police car boot
Brazil is outraged at the death of a black man who was shoved into a police car boot with a gas grenade.
On Wednesday, police in the northeastern city of Umbaba, Sergipe state, stopped Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, 38, on the street. Two officers were seen on video holding down the man in a boot as thick smoke came out of the car.
On Thursday, an autopsy report showed that Mr. Santos died of suffocation.
The federal highway police in Brazil said that a disciplinary process has been started to look into the behavior of the officers. The federal police have also started looking into what happened when Mr. Santos died.
There are different versions of what happened to the Brazilian man gassed to death in police car boot.
In a police statement, it was said that Mr. Santos was arrested because he “actively resisted” the police when they tried to talk to him. Because of his “aggressiveness,” techniques and tools that were less likely to hurt him were used to hold him down.
Wallison de Jesus, Mr. Santos’ nephew, told local media that his uncle was riding a motorcycle when federal highway police asked him to lift his shirt. His uncle took schizophrenia medication and got nervous when officers found it.
He said he told the police about his uncle’s illness, and “then the torture started.” He said that the police officers held him down and put him in the vehicle’s boot.
The online video shows Mr. Santos’ legs hanging out of the car while the rest of his body is inside. As he kicks and screams, two police officers can be seen pushing down on the boot door as what looks like a gas grenade goes off inside.
