The video where a police officer kicks a black woman in the neck in order to immobilize her, caused a wave of indignation today in Brazil, where the incidents of police violence are multiple.
The scene unfolded on May 30, in a popular neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Sao Paulo, but the images went around the country, after being shown yesterday Sunday by the show "Fantastico", with high ratings, of the TV network Globo.
The images, taken with a mobile phone, show a black woman, with her face on the ground, struggling to escape as a police officer presses her neck and leg with force.
After a few seconds, the policeman raises his other leg to throw all his weight on the victim's neck.
The video of the horror:
"The more I fought, the more it rested on my neck," the 51-year-old Brazilian described in an interview with TV Globo. Her identity was not revealed, while her facial features were covered after technical processing of the image.
The woman worked in a small neighborhood bar. She describes that she tried to intervene when a friend of hers was attacked by police. She complains that the police used violence against her in other ways, which are not recorded in the video.
"I told him to stop, he pushed me on the bars of the bar, he punched me three times, as a result of which I fell down and broke my leg," he says.
"Then one put his knee around my neck and another on my side. "I vomited four times," he continues.
The state government announced yesterday that police officers have been made available and an investigation has been launched.
"The images shown by the Fantastico show are disgusting, this violent behavior of some police officers is unacceptable," Governor Joao Doria wrote in a tweet after the report was shown.
Source: RES-EAP