A video showing armed officers dragging a man from a car at the weekend and stomping on his head has outraged South Africans.
The weekend incident was captured on film, and it shows the officers dragging the man across the road on a busy Johannesburg highway as several of them were brandishing weapons, before kicking and stomping on his head.
After the assault, the victim looks to have been booted out cold and is lying unmoving on his back. Another man, who is protecting himself by holding his hands over his head, is seen getting kicked by the officers.
In the aftermath, a third man can be seen on the footage lying by the side of the road. It’s unknown if he was also physically abused. As the males are being kicked and stomped on, a woman is seen coming out of the car and raising her hands over her head.
Following the incident, two black SUVs are seen driving away after the cops, who are a part of a bigger dedicated police team entrusted with protecting South African leaders and other VIPs, get into them.
Someone in a different automobile who wasn’t engaged in the altercation shot the video and posted it to Twitter.
His office acknowledged on Tuesday that the officers are a member of the police security squad guarding Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
The police protection unit, also referred to as the “blue light brigade” in South Africa, is infamous for deploying excessive force. The unit’s officers are frequently criticized for traveling at a high rate of speed on highways and retaliating violently if other motorists fail to see the small blue lights and sirens in their cars and move out of the way.
An inquiry into the alleged attack of the car’s driver and his passengers by police personnel has been launched, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), which deals with accusations of police misconduct.
Mashatile’s office said in a statement that he “abhors any unnecessary use of force, particularly against unarmed civilians.”
It didn’t say if Mashatile had been part of a convoy of vehicles traveling on the highway in the lead-up to the incident.
Amid an outcry, national police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe said in a statement that the officers have been identified “and will be subjected to internal processes.”
Police had also “successfully traced the victims of this incident,” Mathe said, and they were being interviewed.