A screen shot made by the Brazilian news network Globo shows an image posted on Facebook by a police officer in Rio de Janeiro this week.A police officer in Rio de Janeiro faces disciplinary measures after posting a self-portrait on Facebook in which he held a broken baton and suggested that he had snapped it on the body of a striking teacher during a crackdown on protesters this week.
As the Brazilian news network Globo reported, the officer â€" who goes by Tiago Tiroteio, or Tiago Shootout, on the social network â€" captioned his photograph with a sarcastic apology that roughly translates as, “My bad, Teach!†Police officials said they were still trying to identify the officer.
The incident comes as the use of force against protesters has drawn new attention to complaints about police brutality across Brazil. Prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro said this week that they would charge 10 officers with the torture and murder of Amarildo de Souza, a resident of one of the city’s notorious slums who disappeared in July after he was detained by the police.
Although supporters of the protest movement have complained bitterly about what they see as unsympathetic coverage from Brazilian news channels like Globo, video shot by a crew from that channel, showing the arrest of a protester during another demonstration this week, has raised questions about the conduct of two more officers.
According to Globo’s journalists, the video seems to show that the officers planted explosives on a young protester they then detained for possession of the incendiary devices in full view of the team’s camera.
After the video was published this week, police officials told Globo the officers were under investigation for “abuse of power.â€
The network also reported that one of the officers suspected of planting explosives on the protester had been photographed aiming pepper spray in the faces of teachers.
Video posted on YouTube last month by a media collective dedicated to documenting the protests appeared to show the same officer having a heated confrontation with a legal advocate for the protesters during another demonstration.
