Genivaldo dos Santos, 38, was the victim of two federal agents, whose actions unleashed a new scandal over police violence in the country
< /i>Brazil Police Lock Man In Trunk With Tear Gas
A 38-year-old Brazilian was murdered by two federal policemen who tortured him in a kind of gas chamber after having put the victim inside the trunk of a patrol car after filling it with tear gas, in an episode that was filmed by witnesses and became a new scandal of police violence in Brazil.
Genivaldo dos Santos, a 38-year-old street vendor with schizophrenia, was arrested in Umbaúba, state of Sergipe, when he was riding his motorcycle. He was then immobilized by agents of the Federal Highway Police (PRF) who put him inside the trunk of a patrol car, where they had thrown tear gas.
The Federal Police of roads reported in a statement that the man resisted the approach and therefore used low-lethality tools, such as gas, while neighbors cut off the BR-101 national highway, the longest in Brazil, to protest for the crime, which began to be investigated by the Sergipe federal prosecutor’s office.
The Federal Police opened an investigation against the two police officers involved and President Jair Bolsonaro said he was going to listen to the leadership of the PRF before issuing an opinion, although he recalled a case of two police officers recently shot by a homeless man to try to explain the actions of the agents.
Wallyson do Jesús, a nephew of the victim who was at the scene, recounted how it was Genivaldo’s arrest, on the side of the road.
“The order to stop was given, he stopped, put the motorcycle aside and heeded all orders. The policeman asked him to lift his shirt and he did. He told them that he had a prescription medicine in his pocket indicating that he has mental problems. Then the policeman called his partner to try to stop him, ”said Do Jesús.
The Federal Police opened a case against the two policemen involved
“ They grabbed his arms and legs, wanted to handcuff him and stepped on him. They put him in the patrol car and before closing the door they threw that gas grenade. Then the people who were around began to film everything, no one believed what was happening, torturing my uncle,” he added.
The city where the worker’s death occurred is located 100 kilometers from Aracajú, the capital of Sergipe.
With the victim dying, the police officers took him to a hospital where he died upon arrival.
< p class=”paragraph”>History of police violence
The case adds to the general commotion caused by the massacre of 26 people perpetrated by the Federal Police, the Federal Highway Police and the Rio de Janeiro Military Police, during an operation against drug trafficking in a favela.
< p class=”paragraph”>Eight of the dead had no connection to organized crime. The operation, however, was celebrated by President Jair Bolsonaro and Governor Claudio Castro.
In this case of Sergipe, the expert opinion of the Legal Medical Institute indicated that the suffocation and acute respiratory failure caused the death of Santos, reported the Secretary of Public Security of Sergipe, according to the Globo network.
The federal police depend on the central government and not on the states.
The Brazilian Bar Association, the main body defending human rights in Brazil since the times of the military dictatorship, condemned “any type of violence or torture”.
The victim’s wife, Maria Fabiana dos Santos, said that Genivaldo had suffered from schizophrenia for about 20 years.
“I’ve lived with him for 17 years and he never attacked anyone, he never did anything wrong, he always did the right thing,” the woman told the media.
The case began to be compared by television commentators to that of George Floyd, killed by police in Minneapolis, United States, on May 25, 2020, asphyxiated by a white agent.
(With information from Télam)