Claim: A video shows Brazilian police crashing into Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son Flavio Bolsonaro’s private plane as he attempted to flee the country.
Fact: The claim is false. The video is from 2011 when Bralizian police chased and arrested five smugglers in a theft case.
On 9 January 2023, a Twitter account posted a video with the caption, “This is not a movie, this is Brazilian Police crashing into Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flávio Bolsonaro, private plane as he attempts to flee the country This comes as a response to the former Brazilian President’s role in attempting to overturn their democratic election.”
In the 35-second video clip, a car pursues a plane on a dirt runway. The plane is about to take off when a man in a car seems to shoot at it with an automatic rifle before slamming the car into the plane’s wing.
The video went viral after former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters broke into Congress and the Supreme Court and surrounded the Presidential Palace, causing extensive damage. After the invasion, Brazil’s current President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, ordered action against the protesters and police took 300 into custody, reported BBC.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated the claim after a few people commented that the video might be old and falsely reported.
An InVID analysis of the video keyframes showed news reports from 2011. Brazilian news outlet Estadao posted the video to YouTube on 2 November 2011. The Portuguese language title of the video translated into English reads, “Federal Police throw car at plane of smugglers.”
A further search with relevant keywords showed a CNN report from 3 November 2011 that contains a longer version of the video and shows that the chase took place on 1 November 2011.
The Daily Mail also reported the event and in their news story claimed that the incident took place in Ribeirão Preto and shows the Brazilian Federal Police chasing a gang of drug smugglers involved in different crimes and theft cases.
The false viral video received 243.1K views, 1,860 likes and 400 retweets on Twitter.
Conclusion: The claim that Brazilian police crashed Flávio Bolsonaro’s plane after riots in Brazil is false. The video is from 2011 and has no connection with the ongoing situation in the country.