Crime and punishment go viral in bike-jacking
THE helmet-camera video was meant to be a celebration of a new motorcycle. However, as the Brazilian biker speeds through Sao Paulo on his 600CC Honda Hornet, a thief pulls up and suddenly the driver finds himself staring down the barrel of a pistol.
What happens next is all too common in Brazil: as the biker hands over his motorcycle an offduty policeman approaches the thief and shoots him twice. His accomplice escapes.
The film, which has gone viral on the internet, is being viewed by many as encapsulating the crime crisis in Brazil, where 40,000 people are murdered every year and only a fraction of those killings are solved by the police.
Instead of solving crimes, police are often accused of complicity in murders and disappearances, as shown this month when 10 officers were accused of torturing to death a bricklayer they had arrested in a Rio slum.
Escarante Leonardo Santos, an off-duty police officer, does not hesitate to shoot the 18-year-old in the stomach and leg after seeing him point a gun at his victim’s head. The thief was seriously injured and taken to hospital.
The victim of the motorcycle theft can be heard cursing the robber as he lies bleeding in the road by the ditched bike.
‘‘Go rob in Hell, you lunatic. My bike will take you there,’’ the man says.
The police said in a statement that ‘‘preliminary analysis of the video suggests that the action of the military police was legitimate and correct, with the observance of police techniques ... [It] clearly shows that the robber pointed his gun towards the police officer.’’
The actions ‘‘demonstrated commitment to public cause, defending society from violent criminals’’, they added.
A report said yesterday that even politicians were involved in Brazil’s crime spree: a survey published in the newspaper Estado said that one politically motivated murder is committed every 11 days, with local politicians killing rivals or disposing of witnesses to their crimes.