Fatal attack: Cops still on duty
February 28 2013 at 01:36pm
By BRENDAN ROANE
By BRENDAN ROANE
YouTube
Cellphone footage of
the police brutality incident in Daveyton. Screengrab: YouTube
Johannesburg - Video footage of police
arresting a Mozambican taxi driver for a parking violation in Daveyton and
dragging him behind a police van following an altercation has gone viral,
prompting a public outcry.
The taxi driver died in the police
cells on Tuesday, the day of the incident.
The case is being investigated by the
Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) – the police watchdog body
– while the officers who allegedly committed the crime are still on duty.
“We have seen the video footage and we
have obtained statements and have changed our inquest to murder,” Ipid
spokesman Moses Dlamini said on Thursday.
Police spokesman Captain Alfred Makana
named the taxi driver as Joseph Mido Macua.
The Independent
Police Directorate (Ipid) is investigating the death of a man who, according to
cellphone footage, was dragged for about 400m behind a police van. Screengrab:
YouTube
YouTube
A video released by the Daily Sun that
has not yet been authenticated by Ipid shows several uniformed police officers
and a few men in plain clothes struggling to drag Macua towards the van.
The video cuts and when it continues
viewers can see the taxi driver’s hands tied, behind his head, to the back of
the vehicle.
He sits on the ground, facing away from
the police van, and initially the car backs up slightly and pushes into him.
It then drives off slowly, with one of
the officers holding up Macua’s legs so that he does not touch the ground.
The van picks up speed and the officer
can’t keep up, and Macua is dragged along the tar road, screaming as he tries
to keep his body off the ground.
The van then slows down and the officer
once again picks up his legs, but the vehicle again speeds off and the man is
dropped and dragged towards the police station.
Macua was later found dead in the
police cells by another officer.
An inquest docket was opened.
Dlamini said Ipid had attended the
post-mortem and it appeared as though the man had died from head injuries, and
had suffered internal bleeding and other injuries over his body.
It was unclear whether he had died from
being dragged behind the vehicle, or had been assaulted in the cells.
“We are investigating every
possibility,” said Dlamini.
Makana confirmed the allegations
against the officers, but said the community refused to allow the police to let
Macua be taken away in the back of the van, and had tied him up.
Four constables and one warrant officer
were involved in the incident, but would not be suspended until the outcome of
the Ipid investigation, said Makana.
However, Dlamini said the decision to
suspend the officers or not was up to police management.
He said police confronted Macua about
obstructing traffic, as he had apparently parked on the road, and he had
responded aggressively.
As the officers were walking with
Macua, he allegedly assaulted one of them.
“He overpowered him, beat him and took
his firearm,” said Makana.
Makana said this was when the officers
arrested him and took him to the van.
Dlamini said police told Ipid that one
of the officers drove the taxi to the station and called for back-up after
Macua took the gun.
But they received the video footage of
the incident yesterday. “It appears to contradict what police are saying.”
He said investigators would return to
Daveyton today to take more statements from witnesses.
“We are taking this matter very
seriously,” he said.
Other dragging incidents
* On April 30, 2011, farmer Andre van
der Merwe, 49, from Ottosdal in North West was held at gunpoint by gunmen who
ransacked his house, shot him in the chest, back and head, then dragged him with
his bakkie for about 1.2km before it rolled. Three men were arrested.
* On September 13, 2011, Kim McCusker
was hit and dragged by a taxi for about 700m after she stood in front of it to
prevent it from moving as the driver was having an altercation with her
fiancée.
* In September 2011, Tankiso Sikhosana
was allegedly assaulted by his former bosses, Johan Bornman, 33 and Theunis
Schoeman, 32. He claims they assaulted him, put a plastic bag over his head,
tied him to the back of their bakkie with rope, dragged him for a few metres
and then stripped him naked. In August Bornman and Schoeman were acquitted.
brendan.roane@inl.co.za
The Star
