A military police officer in Brazil ‘s biggest metropolitan area has been caught in a video footage throwing a man off a bridge and into a river, prompting an outrage.
The viral video aired on local television stations shows several Sao Paulo state officers on a bridge Monday besides motorcycles and a man in a blue T-shirt they had been chasing. At one point, one of the officers approaches the man and lifts him up by the legs before tipping him over the edge.
Late in the day on Tuesday, local media reported that the man survived. Still, the footage was shocking and prompted outrage even in a state where police violence is on the rise.
Sao Paulo’s military police force has identified the officers involved and suspended them, according to a statement from the state’s secretariat of public security. It also repudiated the officers’ conduct and said it was launching an investigation.
The statement gave no details about the man in the blue T-shirt, why he was wanted by police or his status after he was thrown into the river.