Three traffic police officers in the Russian city of Samara are accused of beating a driver to death, the local Investigative Committee said on Friday.
On January 17, road police officers were pursuing a vehicle, whose owner violated the rules of road traffic rules. Later the offender's car crashed into a fence and a gas station, and then was blocked by three traffic police vehicles.
The committee said that the officers pulled the driver who was drunk out from the car and beat him severely. The driver died after 12 days in the hospital.
Russia's police forces have come under criticism in recent years for a string of high-profile scandals involving drunken shooting sprees, rampant corruption and beatings of detainees.
President Dmitry Medvedev launched a police reform in February in a bid to restore the soured image of Russia's law enforces which, among other things, renamed the Russian law enforcement agency from the traditional "militia" to the more Western-sounding title of "police".
MOSCOW, May 27 (RIA Novosti)
