Rio police face crisis as officers are filmed forging crime scene

Rio de Janeiro police are facing a credibility crisis after five officers were filmed forging a crime scene in order to escape punishment.

The five officers were filmed Tuesday by Morro da Providencia slum residents manipulate the crime scene in the killing of a 17-year-old boy, Eduardo Felipe Santos Victor.

In the video, the officers put a gun in the hands of the dying teenager and had it shot twice, in a move to ensure that traces of gunpowder would be found in his hands to prove that he had shot at the police. They also put the gun besides Victor's body.

In their initial report, the officers said they were attacked by the boy and returned fire.

The five officers were arrested and accused of killing the boy, who, eyewitnesses said, had surrendered without resistance.

Many deaths involving police officers are registered as acts of resistance from suspects. However, human rights organizations allege that in several cases, police officers faked evidence to pretend they were attacked first.

Rio Governor Luiz Fernando Pezao and state Public Security Secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame both condemned the acts of the five policemen. Endi