After a police operation in Recklinghausen, a man dies in the hospital. Harsh allegations against some police forces are now being made.
Recklinghausen/Dortmund – During a police operation in Recklinghausen (North Rhine-Westphalia), officers used pepper spray and fixed a man. He lost consciousness and died in hospital the following night. Now the suspicion of coercion is loud: the officials are said to have deleted witness recordings from the smartphones of passers-by.
According to a report by WDR , around 150 onlookers and residents had gathered at the scene to film the operation. “According to the current status of the investigation, there are indications that officers deployed could have viewed film recordings on the cell phones of the witnesses immediately after the police measures and, at least in one case, deleted them,” said the North Rhine-Westphalia police in a press release.
After a police operation in Recklinghausen: no specific cause of death was found during the autopsy
The responsible public prosecutor’s office in Bochum therefore assumes that there is an initial suspicion of coercion in the case of four other emergency services. An outside company was hired to back up and restore the video footage that may have been deleted. Clips that have already been secured and submitted to the police are currently being processed by the LKA NRW for evaluation.
During the operation on Stimbergstraße in Oer-Erkenschwick on the evening of August 7th, a 39-year-old rioted in an apartment. Due to massive resistance, the summoned police forces had to fix the man, according to the police press release. Accordingly, the man, who is said to have been under the influence of drugs according to current investigations, became unconscious during the operation.
Despite emergency medical care and resuscitation at the scene and subsequent inpatient treatment in the local hospital, he died during the night. The autopsy has not yet revealed a specific cause of death. The investigations are therefore ongoing.
Man dies after use – police are still looking for witnesses
The police investigation into bodily harm in the office against eight police officers has been taken over by the police headquarters in Dortmund for reasons of neutrality, under the leadership of the responsible public prosecutor’s office in Bochum. At the same time, the officials in Recklinghausen are investigating the case of a 16-year-old who was shot dead by the police in Dortmund. Various sides have recently criticized this overlapping responsibility.
The Dortmund police are still looking for witnesses who can provide relevant information about the investigation. Whistleblowers can call the Dortmund police on 0231/132-7441 . (tk/dpa)
