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.
Footage posted by a South African newspaper shows Mido Macia, dressed in
a red jumper, black trousers and white trainers, being surrounded by
police officers in a scuffle
Mr Macia was held with his hands handcuffed above his head before the driver of the police van pulled away
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.
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.
The incident comes after South
African police officers shot and killed 34 striking workers at the
Marikana mine in August last year.
Mr Macia was arrested at a marketplace in the Daveyton township outside Johannesburg at 6.50pm on Tuesday.
According to witnesses had been beeping his taxi's horn to attract passengers when police arrived.
[Police] argued with Macia and then
they beat him up', an anonymous witness told South Africa's Daily Sun
newspaper, which first revealed the scandal.
'They handcuffed him to the back of the van and slammed the door in his face. With blood running down his face they drove off.
'He was in pain, he cried and asked the cops to stop but they continued anyway.'
This morning, South Africa's
Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), which has launched
an investigation, confirmed that Mr Macia was found dead in his police
cell at 9.15pm.
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