The madness of unnecessary deaths at the hands of those who "serve and protect" acquired a twist of international celebrity Tuesday as the surfing world mourns the death of professional surfer, Ricardo dos Santos, near his home in Brazil.
From Surfer Magazine
Reports flooded social media channels all day with differing accounts of the incident, but it appears that dos Santos was murdered by an off-duty police officer after an altercation during which dos Santos attempted to stop a group of men from openly using drugs in the street. After being shot three times, dos Santos was flown by helicopter to a local hospital. Doctors performed multiple surgeries, but ultimately the blood loss was too severe, despite waves of blood donors, eager to help save dos Santos’ life.
Local police have taken two men into custody—a pair of brothers, 25 and 17-years-old, with the older of the two suspected to have fired on dos Santos, and reported to be the off-duty cop.
Dos Santos was a fearless, world-class tuberider, who captured the surf world’s attention with an incredible performance at the 2012 Billabong Pro, Tahiti, for which he took home the Andy Irons Forever Inspiration Award. He was recently featured in a gorgeous, pristine barrel on the cover of our November, 2014 issue.
Dos Santos is probably best known for dethroning 11-time world champion Kelly Slater in the 2012 Billabong Pro Tahiti surfing competition, having entered the competition as a wild card. Slater paid a
moving tribute to Santos on Instagram.
Can only SMDH at a death so far removed yet, in many ways, so so familiar.
RIP, brother.