Image: VOLKER Weihbold
The starting point was a police operation on August 1, 2022 in a McDonald’s branch in the city center, of which there was also a video recording. The video shows a man being mistreated by the police. In the end, the 31-year-old knees him in the face.
The two colleagues of the 31-year-old – an officer and a young man who was still in police training at the time and who switched to an insurance company after the incident as a speaker – are already legally binding in this matter for nine and five months respectively for abuse of office sentenced to imprisonment. They had admitted that excessive force was used during the official act and that a embellished police report was then written and signed.
“Dangerous attack to be expected”
The 31-year-old, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty to a jury panel (chaired by Philipp Krasa). “A rueful confession is the best way to get as little punishment as possible. But I can’t,” he said. He claimed the man — a former McDonald’s employee — “had expected a dangerous attack.” “It was a dangerous situation,” the accused insisted, “I’ve never had an official act like that before.” His actions directed against it were “enshrined in the Security Police Act” and served to avert danger.
To the surprise of the manager, the ex-McDonalds employee, from whom the company had separated months earlier by mutual agreement, came to the branch on August 1 of the previous year, changed in the employee dressing room and started working in the kitchen. When he persistently refused to leave the premises, the manager called the police. When officers arrived, the man was still busy making Chicken McNuggets in the kitchen. The former employee followed the request of the three police officers to accompany them to the office, but then the situation escalated.
Threatening step or weight shift?
According to the 31-year-old police officer, the man is said to have taken a threatening step in his direction, which is why he violently pushed him into a corner with the heels of his hands. “I watched the video from the surveillance camera 7,000 times. I don’t see him taking a step towards her. He shifted his weight,” countered the prosecutor’s responsibility. In any case, the ball of the thumb was followed by a scuffle in which pepper spray was used against the man.
The video then goes on to show the man standing with his back to the officer under the influence of the pepper spray. There is no apparent danger from him. Nevertheless, he is sprayed a second time by the uniformed man who was in training at the time. As he rubs his eyes, the 31-year-old officer rushes at him, grabs his head and uses both his left and right knees to hit him several times in the face. “These were knees in the double-digit range,” emphasized the prosecutor.
“It was a nervous situation”
“I was of the opinion that it would explode any second,” the accused defended his acts of violence. He and his two colleagues felt threatened “because of the spatial proximity, the narrowness”: “It was a nervous situation.” After the knees, the other two police officers jumped on the man, knocked him to the ground and arrested him.
“I got two punches!” the accused stated. “After you punched him,” the prosecutor replied immediately, pointing out that investigations against the ex-McDonalds employee had long since been discontinued. “The arrest was illegal,” she continued.
hearing adjourned
The hearing was adjourned to October 9 for the questioning of the man affected by police violence. Should the 31-year-old be found guilty in accordance with the charge and face a sentence of six months to five years in prison of one year or more, this would automatically result in his loss of office.
Source: Nachrichten
