Eight police officers on South African 'drag-death' murder charge

Eight South African police officers have been charged with murder for the death of a taxi driver dragged by a police vehicle.

A videotape of the incident has become a worldwide symbol of police brutality in South Africa.

Earlier friends and relatives of Mido Macia gathered around a simple wooden table in the poor township of Daveyton, to mourn the death of the 27-year-old who died shortly after the dragging incident on Tuesday.

Late today, eight policemen from Daveyton were charged with murder, said Moses Dlamini of the police investigation unit.

South Africa’s police chief Gen Riah Phiyega said she shared “the extreme shock and outrage” over the video evidence of abuse of Macia by police officers and said his rights were “violated in the most extreme form.”