Video of Brazil cops gassing man draws fury after his death

By DIANE JEANTET
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A video showing two officers of Brazil’s Federal Highway Police holding a Black man inside an SUV’s smoke-filled trunk and the man’s death from asphyxiation are sparking outrage among Brazilians. Images of the brutal police stop on Tuesday in Umbauba, in the northeastern state of Sergipe, showed two officers forcibly keeping the victim in the trunk of the vehicle as a dense cloud of white smoke emerges from the vehicle. Genivaldo de Jesus Santos, 38, can be heard screaming and seen kicking his legs until he eventually stops moving. A preliminary autopsy report concluded the man died of respiratory failure due to “mechanical asphyxia.”