A S-Bahn passenger is said to have attacked two ticket checkers in Munich, which resulted in drastic scenes: A police officer is said to have kneeled on the man’s neck. Now the passenger is on trial.
Munich – A man lies on the floor, surrounded by police officers. Again and again he shouts “Help, help!” And makes noises that sound like a rattle. An officer is holding him on the ground and appears to be kneeling on the man’s neck.
The scene took place in February 2020 at the Munich S-Bahn station Isartor, it is recorded in the video from the body cam of a police woman. Since this Friday, she has a judicial aftermath – but not for the official. The 54-year-old, who was defeated on the platform by the forces of the federal police, has to answer before the Munich district court. The man denies the prosecutor’s allegations.
According to them, he was confronted by inspectors in a S-Bahn because he had an allegedly invalid ticket with him. He insulted one of them as a “Nazi and a racist”. After the identity checkers got out with him at the Isartor station and called the police, the man became violent.
When the federal police arrived there was a scuffle. The defendant had to be brought to the ground and held by five officers. He hit a policewoman in the face and bit in the hand, and previously also in the arm of the inspector. The charges include assault, libel and assault on law enforcement officers.
In a statement read out by his lawyer David Mühlberger, the process sounds significantly different. Accordingly, one of the inspectors attacked him on the platform for no reason after the inspection. He had pressed the later defendant against a wall and hit him in the stomach. Finally, the police came along and brought him to the ground for no reason and pressed him on his chest and neck in such a way that “I almost suffocated”. Because of the incident, he was mentally damaged and could no longer work. When the video from the bodycam was played in the courtroom, he covered his ears and looked away.
The federal policeman who held him on the platform testified as a witness in court that he could not remember whether he put his knee on the neck region. He had to fixate the man because he behaved very aggressively.
A spokesman for the Munich Federal Police Department defended the operation against the German press agency. It is a matter of “putting down the shin”, which is taught in training and further education. No pressure is exerted on the neck, so that breathing and circulation are not impaired.
After the news magazine “Focus” published the video from the Bodycam in July of this year, the public prosecutor’s office in Munich I announced that they wanted to review the actions of the federal police. It is a preliminary investigation to clarify whether a procedure will be initiated.
At the hearing, one of the driver’s license examiners was also questioned, who initially confirmed that the accused had first become aggressive. Shortly afterwards, however, he became increasingly entangled in contradictions. Finally, he stated that his colleague actually pushed the man against a pillar and hit him in the direction of his stomach. In a written protocol, the two inspectors deliberately concealed the attack.
At first glance, the material is reminiscent of the deadly police operation against George Floyd in the USA, even if the consequences cannot be compared, which triggered a wave of horror and major protests. Floyd was killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis last May. A police officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for a good nine minutes while the latter shouted that he could not breathe. Floyd passed out and died a little later. The policeman was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison.
In Germany, too, cases of alleged or actual police violence are repeatedly the subject of public discussion. In February, for example, the Stuttgart administrative court partially upheld a refugee’s complaint after police officers broke into his room in an initial reception facility in 2018 and forcibly tied him to the floor. Police operations in Berlin demonstrations against the Corona measures also called the UN special rapporteur on torture on the scene, who requested a statement from the federal government because of the alleged excessive use of force.
Videos from surveillance cameras will provide more information about what is happening on the Munich platform. According to defender Mühlberger, a quarter of an hour is missing from their material, in which the alleged attack by the ticket inspectors can be seen. The proceedings will continue at the beginning of September. dpa
