A police officer was caught on video throwing a man off a bridge in Brazil during a traffic stop in an incident that has sent shockwaves through the nation.
Footage of the encounter, which was leaked on social media, showed Military Police agent Luan Pereira, 29, holding Marcelo do Amaral, 25, by the shirt in São Paulo Monday after pulling him over for operating a motorcycle without license plates.
Pereira was then seen leading do Amaral to the side of the bridge, where he lifted up one of his legs and and then tossed him off the span while his fellow officers looked on.
Witnesses told Brazilian news outlet Metropoles that do Amaral landed in a stream below and was able to get out on his own and walk up a hill, where he was met by a friend and taken to a local hospital.
The man’s father said do Amaral was delivery worker, and witnesses said the motorcyclist questioned the officer about the traffic stop delaying his order.
An initial Military Police report indicated that the cops chased multiple motorcyclists until they reached the São Paulo neighborhood of Vila Clara, where a party was taking place.
While searching do Amaral, police said that the partygoers began to attack them with bottles and rocks.
As they began to disperse the mob with pepper spray, a man in the area was shot.
The police report did not include any information about Pereira throwing do Amaral from the bridge.
A witness told Metropoles that do Amaral questioned Pereira about whether he was going to delay his delivery order and expressed concern that he would lose possession of his motorcycle.
Pereira and 12 other Military Police agents, who are assigned to a battalion in the town of Diadema, have been removed from duty as part of the investigation.
Do Amaral’s father, Antonio do Amaral, told Jornal Nacional newspaper that his son did not have a criminal record.
‘He’s fine, but we haven’t been able to talk to him. It’s unacceptable,’ he said.
‘The police are there to defend the population, not to do what they did. A worker, a boy… He has no involvement, no record, nothing. I want an explanation from this police officer and why he did this.’
São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas condemned Pereira’s tactics and said he was not worthy of being a member of the force.
‘The São Paulo Military Police is an institution that offers, above all, its professionalism when it comes to protecting people. Police are on the street to confront crime and make people feel safe,’ de Freitas wrote in an X post Tuesday.
‘Those who go so far as to throw someone off a bridge, are clearly not fit to wear this uniform,’ he added.
In a statement, São Paulo Attorney General Paolo Costa described the incident as ‘shocking and absolutely unacceptable!’ and said that a special task force would be leading the investigation.
‘There is no other way to classify the images of the moment in which a military police officer threw a man from the top of a bridge, this Monday,’ Costa said.
‘From the footage released by the press, it is clear that the suspect was already under control by the security agents, who had the functional duty to take him, intact, to a police station so that the occurrence could be recorded.’
According to São Paulo state government data, Pereira is part of the Military Police’s motorcycle patrol unit and earns a monthly salary of 5,300 reals, or about $878.
New outlet UOL reported that Pereira was involved in the fatal March 2023 shooting of Maycon Valério, 31, who was chased in the town of Diadema for riding a motorcycle at a high speed and without a helmet.
Valério was able to abandon the motorcycle and led Pereira on a foot chase before allegedly aiming a weapon at him.
Pereira responded by shooting him 12 times. Valério was rushed to an area hospital, where he died.
Pereira was placed under investigation by the São Pablo State Public Ministry at the time.
He was acquitted in January after he was found to have acted in self-defense.
