S.African cops arrested over killing filmed by cameras

Four South African police officers were arrested Monday on murder charges after a video emerged of an execution-style killing of a suspected robber on a suburban street.

Footage from closed circuit television showed police firing at the man from close range as he lay on the ground in Krugersdorp, a town west of Johannesburg.

“They handed themselves over to us at a police station where they are working this morning,” Robbie Raburabu, acting spokesman of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, told AFP.

The three constables and a sergeant are due to appear in court later this week over the killing Mlungisi Mpanza, 36, in broad daylight on October 19.

“The version of the police was this guy… was actually shooting at the police at the time and that their lives were in danger and that they had to shoot him to safeguard their lives,” said Raburabu.

“But then the video showed a different story altogether.”

Local media reported Mpanza, who was alleged to have been involved in a robbery, had earlier fired eight shots at the police.

He was running away and collapsed after being shot in the arm.

The video shows Mpanza lying on a pavement, with his gun beside him, as a policeman takes aim and shoots him with a pistol.

South Africa’s police force has been under the spotlight in recent years following a string of brutality cases.

Eight policemen who were convicted of murdering a Mozambican taxi driver in 2013 after he was handcuffed and dragged behind a police van are due to be sentenced next week.

A judiciary inquiry into the killing of 34 striking platinum miners by officers at Marikana laid much of the blame on the police force for its conduct in trying to disperse the strikers.