(Newser) – Anger and protests in Brazil followed the death of a black man who was trampled under police arrest. After the traffic was stopped, the officials in the city of Umbauba put the man in the back of a police car, after which they fired a gas grenade, the Guardian reports. “Police turned a car into a gas chamber and executed a mentally ill man,” Renata Souza, a black activist and politician, wrote on Twitter. Traffic police said in a statement that officers used “immobilization techniques” and “tools with low offensive potential” when the man became aggressive. The funeral of 38-year-old Genivaldo de Jesus Santos took place on Thursday.
The video shows police forcing Santos to get in the back of a police jeep and keep it there while thick white smoke – apparently tear gas – emanates from the vehicle, according to CBS News. Eventually, the man stopped kicking. Officers did not show any reaction to the assembled onlookers, one of whom was heard saying, “They will kill the man.” An autopsy found that the cause of death was suffocation. In a statement, police said Santos was taken to hospital when he fell ill on his way to police station; relatives said he was dead on arrival.
Santos’ family said he had schizophrenia and was on medication for her. His nephew, Alison de Jesus, who was there, said he had told police his uncle was unwell before the tear gas was fired. “It was a torture session,” said the nephew. “They took my uncle, put him in the car and took a gas bomb and kept the trunk closed with him inside.” Brazilian media reported that the five police officers involved were released on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. A non-partisan Brazilian organization reports that the national police killed 6,416 people in 2020, nearly 80% of whom are black. (Read more stories about Brazil.)
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