Recording shows deed

Police violence: officer throws man off bridge

A police officer in Sao Paulo was filmed throwing a man off a bridge during a traffic stop.(Bild: Reprodução/ Globo News)

Several cases of police violence are causing outrage in Brazil. Footage from local television stations shows a police officer in the metropolis of São Paulo throwing a man off a bridge into a river.

According to initial reports from the news portal "G1", officers had previously ordered two people on a motorcycle to stop.

However, the men fled, whereupon the officers gave chase. One of them was then arrested, while the other was thrown off the bridge by one of the officers. It was initially unclear whether the man survived.

In another video released from a surveillance camera, an off-duty police officer can be seen shooting a young man several times in the back after he stole cleaning products from a supermarket and tried to flee. There was no recognizable threat to the officer.

Cases to be investigated
"Someone who shoots people in the back, someone who goes so far as to throw someone off a bridge, is clearly not fit to wear this uniform," said São Paulo's governor Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas on Platform X. The cases would be investigated and rigorously punished.

The work of the police should not be tainted by unprofessional behavior, said the Secretary for Public Security, Guilherme Derrite. The Attorney General of São Paulo, Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira e Costa, also condemned the events and said that the images were "appalling and absolutely unacceptable".

A day earlier, in the state of Pernambuco, an off-duty police officer shot dead a motorcyclist who had offered him a ride via an app. As reported by "G1", the officer did not pay the fare of 7 reais (1.10 euros), which led to an argument, as a result of which the officer pulled out a gun and shot the young man.

Brazil is one of the countries with the highest number of violent crimes. Most of these are caused by organized crime, petty criminals and police violence.