From [HERE] Nine South African police officers pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of killing a man who died after being dragged behind their van, according to news reports. The police officer driving the vehicle said he was unaware of what was happening to the man when he began pulling away from an agitated crowd, according to Agence France-Presse.

The death of Mido Macia last week outraged South Africans after a video was posted online by the Daily Sun tabloid. The video showed the Mozambican man resisting police who prodded him toward their van, then secured his raised hands to the back of the vehicle amid a crowd of onlookers.

The van then drove away, dragging Macia behind it. He was found dead at the police station several hours later, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate watchdog agency, which said Macia had died of  head injuries and internal bleeding.

Protesters stand outside the Benoni court on Friday calling for no bail for the police officers charged with murdering Mido Macia on March 8, 2013

At the hearing Friday, police driver Lungisa Ewababa said he started driving after one of the vehicle windows was broken in the commotion, and didn’t realize Macia was being dragged until another officer told him, the South African Press Assn. reported. The officers then put the man inside the vehicle and drove to the police station, Ewababa reportedly said.

SAPA reported that an attorney for another of the nine accused officers read a statement saying that Macia had grabbed a gun from another officer and pointed it at them before handing it back. The minibus driver had been blocking the road before the scuffle, the officer said.

"I asked him to move and he insulted me and told me I am a useless cop," the statement from Thamsanqa Ncema said, according to SAPA. Macia then grabbed the gun, he said.

"I was caught by surprise to be told that the person had died, as he has never complained about any injuries," the statement from Ncema  said.