Meanwhile In Brazil
- Thread starter mrtonguetwista
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Video footage of five Brazilian police officers shooting a teenage boy at point blank range and apparently unprovoked has emerged.
The footage — captured by a security camera in the city of Manaus — shows uniformed men pushing the 14-year-old during a raid in a poor district of the Amazon city before shooting him in the chest.
GlobalPost was among the first Western media outlets to report on the video's existence Thursday, when Solana Pyne wrote about it in the Bric Yard blog.
The video shows the teenager standing against a wall surrounded by officers. He is shot by one of them but remains standing; he later appears to be shot several more times.
Although it can't be heard, the boy's mother began screaming for help in the background when she found out what was happening, said Amazonas state prosecutor Joao Bosco Sa Valente, according to the Associated Press.
The boy, who survived despite several wounds, is now in a witness protection program along with his family.
Police in Brazil are frequently accused of using excessive force against criminal suspects, including extrajudicial execution, according to the BBC.
The Manaus incident reportedly took place on Aug. 17, 2010, but the footage was held back until this week, as the boy's family and the person in charge of the security camera feared retaliation if it was made public, according to prosecutors.
The officers have reportedly been arrested and Valente said they would face charges of attempted homicide.
."I have been fighting organized crime for 30 years, but every time I see those images I feel indignation and disgust," the prosecutor told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, according to the BBC
The footage — captured by a security camera in the city of Manaus — shows uniformed men pushing the 14-year-old during a raid in a poor district of the Amazon city before shooting him in the chest.
GlobalPost was among the first Western media outlets to report on the video's existence Thursday, when Solana Pyne wrote about it in the Bric Yard blog.
The video shows the teenager standing against a wall surrounded by officers. He is shot by one of them but remains standing; he later appears to be shot several more times.
Although it can't be heard, the boy's mother began screaming for help in the background when she found out what was happening, said Amazonas state prosecutor Joao Bosco Sa Valente, according to the Associated Press.
The boy, who survived despite several wounds, is now in a witness protection program along with his family.
Police in Brazil are frequently accused of using excessive force against criminal suspects, including extrajudicial execution, according to the BBC.
The Manaus incident reportedly took place on Aug. 17, 2010, but the footage was held back until this week, as the boy's family and the person in charge of the security camera feared retaliation if it was made public, according to prosecutors.
The officers have reportedly been arrested and Valente said they would face charges of attempted homicide.
."I have been fighting organized crime for 30 years, but every time I see those images I feel indignation and disgust," the prosecutor told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, according to the BBC
