Mida Macia is shown being dragged along the road by a moving police van, with his limbs carried by officers.
Sickening video emerged today of South African police officers tying a man to their van and dragging him through the streets. Mido Macia, 27, was found dead in police custody just two hours after being arrested for the parking dispute in the Daveyton township. The incident brings fresh embarrassment to the country's criminal justice system which is under intense international scrutiny due to the high profile Oscar Pistorius murder trial.
Mr Marcia been handcuffed to the back of the van with his hand above his head.
The van speeds off with Mr Marcia tied to the back.
Mobile phone footage posted online today shows Mr Macia, dressed in a red T-shirt, black trousers and white trainers, being manhandled by police as a large crowd gathered. The shaky video shows Mr Macia being dragged towards the police van, before the crowd gets in the way of the camera. One onlooker told The Daily Sun that police officers drove Mr Macia's Toyota Avanza away before returning to the scene with a police van. Officers slammed one of the van doors in the taxi driver's face, leaving him covered in blood. Mr Macia was heard begging officers to stop the assault. When the crowd parts, Mr Macia has had his hands handcuffed above his head and to the inside of the van. The officer driving the van is seen to reverse while Mr Macia tries to stop himself being caught underneath. Members of the crowd are seen filming on their smartphones as officers pick up his legs and carry him as the van pulls away. They then drop him on the floor and he is dragged along the road. The van stops again and two police officers pick up a leg each and run behind the van as it picks up speed. Again, they dropped his limbs as the van drove out of the camera's sight. The victim - a Mozambican immigrant - was found dead in a police cell just over two hours later. The taxi driver's distraught family said all he had done was argue with the police over an alleged parking violation. This morning The Daily Sun quoted an anonymous prisoner who was in the police station as saying: 'They killed him. They beat him up so badly in here.'The fresh scandal has already prompted a furious backlash in South Africa.This morning, Frans Cronje from the respected South African Institute for Race Relations think tank said: 'This dragging the Mozambican behind the police van is a level of barbarity on a par with police behaviour at Marikana. Oh dear was just speaking to a friend in SA about how they hate Nigerians, may God help us oh.
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