Two military police officials in Sao Paolo, Brazil, got suspended after one of them was captured standing on a black woman's neck in a video that went viral on social media. The decision for the investigation was announced on Sunday night by the Governor of Sao Paolo João Doria, as the 51-year-old woman, who is a mother of five, suffered a broken neck due to police brutality.
In the clip, a police officer can be seen aiming his gun at a man who was taking his t-shirt off. The officer then went to the woman and pushed her back as she was standing next to his partner who was handcuffing a man.
Police Officer Stands on Black Woman's Neck
Later, the woman can be seen lying with her face down on the ground as the police officer put his boot into her neck. The other officer can be seen dragging another male, who was later arrested. The incident happened in Parelheiros on May 30, as reported by Brazilian news organization G1.
The woman, who is a widow, stated that she was trying to cool things off between the police and her friend, who was questioned as the police responded to a noise complaint. A fight took place between the two police officers and the man before he was arrested.
"Then I asked the policeman not to hit him anymore because he was already passed out, lying on the floor," the woman mentioned as reported by Daily Mail. "The more I struggled, the more he [cop] tightened the boot around my neck.' She was treated at a local hospital for her leg injury and had several cuts that required 16 stitches," she added.
Sao Paolo Governor Shocked
During a press conference on Monday the governor Doria mentioned that he was shocked by the behavior of the officers. "I want to make it clear that the State of São Paulo does not tolerate and will not tolerate any behavior that is violence practiced by the Military Police, the Civil Police, the Fire Department or any other police that is under the command of the State of São Paulo," Doria said.
"It is unacceptable that few compromise many. In other words, condemnable actions by a few compromise an organization with more than 80,000 police officers and who do their job well," he added. From August around 2,000 officers are going to have body cameras.
Black Lives Matter
The whole world has been protesting against police brutality for a few months following the death of George Floyd, who got killed on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota during an arrest. The 46-year-old black American lost his life as a police officer knelt on his neck for almost eight minutes while Floyd continuously pleading for his life.
Following this incident, the Black Lives Matter movement grew in prominence all around the world as people came out in numbers to raise their voices and protest against police brutality and racism amid the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak.
