BOGOTA (Reuters) – A man died in Bogota, the Colombian capital, on Wednesday after being detained by two police officers who repeatedly shocked him with a stun gun despite the victim’s pleas for them to stop, authorities said.
Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez said it was an example of “unacceptable police brutality,” on her Twitter account.
The incident took place early Wednesday morning when, according to police, Javier Humberto Ordonez, 46, was found drinking alcohol in the street with others, in violation of social distancing rules designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
In a video shared on social media, the father of two is pinned to the ground by the officers and subjected to successive electric shocks as he begs them, “Please, no more.”
Ordonez was subsequently taken to a police station where his friends and family say he was subjected to more abuse. He died later in hospital.
“We’ll offer Javier’s family legal assistance so there is a conviction not only of those directly responsible, but also to see structural reform that prevents and punishes police brutality,” Lopez said on Twitter. “This isn’t about bad apples. Life is sacred!”
The two officers have been relieved of their duties while an internal disciplinary investigation is under way and a separate criminal investigation is conducted by the attorney general’s office, Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said in a video posted on Twitter, after condemning the attack.
Protests against Ordonez’s death were planned for later Wednesday outside the police command unit where he was held before being taken to a hospital.
Death at the hands of police in Colombia is infrequent but not unheard of. Last November, teenager Dilan Cruz died in Bogota during mass protests after being hit in the head by a projectile fired by a police officer.
Members of the city’s trans community regularly accuse the police of violence toward them.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Leslie Adler)
