Rio de Janeiro Civil Police indict 13 people for the death of a cyclist in Copacabana

The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro indicted 13 people in the case of the death of cyclist Cláudio Rafael Landeiro Moreira, 37, beaten after being mistaken for a bicycle thief, in Copacabana, a tourist area of ​​the city.

Five of them will be charged with triple homicide, four of whom are in prison. One of them remains at large. Among those involved are clandestine security guards, app delivery people and local businesspeople.

The investigation was concluded on Monday (7) by delegate Angelo José Lages Machado, head of the 12th Police Station (DP), based in Copacabana, and directed to the Public Ministry.

According to the police, Cláudio was “cowardly beaten” in the early hours of August 11th to 12th. The investigation shows that he was accused of stealing a bicycle that actually belonged to his sister. Cláudio Rafael had psychiatric problems and was unable to defend himself against the attackers' accusations.

The police chief states that there was "not the slightest demonstration" that Cláudio had actually stolen the bicycle.

“Instead of calling public authorities, those involved chose to judge and subject Cláudio to a sentence for successive attacks, which caused death,” the investigation points out.

"insane" aggression

Using images from security cameras, the police concluded that the victim was surrounded by security guards working in the region and suffered attacks for around nine minutes.

“He was punched, kicked and struck dozens of times with a wooden object,” say the police. The investigation, to which Agência Brasil had access, reports that Cláudio “was agonizing on the floor for more than 30 minutes”, before being rescued.

He suffered head trauma, internal bleeding and ruptured organs.

The court ordered the arrest of five people:

Davi dos Santos Machado – street security

Jorge Luiz Ricardo Dias – street security

Felipe Eduardo dos Santos Dias – app delivery person

Ailton José da Silva – app delivery person

Wellington Luiz Santos de Souza – man who appeared at the end of the attacks and kicked the defenseless victim in the head.

The five were indicted for triple homicide (futile motive, use of cruel means and resources that made the victim's defense difficult or impossible). The security guards and delivery people are trapped. Wellington remains at large.

According to the investigation, Davi himself, one of the attackers, classified the attacks as an “insane act”.

Clandestine security

The police state that the testimonies of those involved “demonstrate the existence of a private financing system for informal security activities”.

"Payments were not made through a formal contract or regularly established employment relationship. On the contrary, they were made informally, predominantly in cash and without receipts", describes the investigation.

Four people were indicted for irregularly exercising security and street surveillance activities. Four traders were also indicted for financing informal activity through periodic payments.

A woman who handed over the wooden bat used by one of the attackers was charged with bodily harm. A man was charged with failure to assist. He saw the attacks, but did not call the police or firefighters.