SÃO PAULO, Brazil—Paulo Nascimento seemed to know what was coming when police caught him hiding in a home on a poor outskirt of São Paulo last November. The suspected car thief emerged pleading for his life with shrieks of "For the love of God!"
One officer slapped his face. Another kicked him in the rear. A third shot him.
Normally, Mr. Nascimento's death would garner little attention in a country where police kill more suspects than almost anywhere else in the world. Police in São Paulo state killed one suspect for every 229 they arrested last year
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