criticism of the police
Death after a police operation in Mannheim: bodycams did not work
During the check on Monday evening in downtown Mannheim, the 47-year-old collapsed and was initially revived – but later died in the hospital. Photo: René Priebe/PR video /dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
A 47-year-old dies in Mannheim after a police check – videos are circulating on the Internet that show an officer beating him. The public pressure is great, the police promise “complete” clarification.
Despite the non-activated body cams when a man died after the Mannheim police check, the police union (GdP) expects answers to the most important questions about the controversial operation.
“I assume that the background and circumstances of this event will be fully clarified,” said Baden-Württemberg state chairman Gundram Lottmann of the German Press Agency. There are many witnesses and videos. “And I do believe that the mission can therefore be reconstructed without the cameras.”
During the check on Monday evening in downtown Mannheim, a 47-year-old man collapsed and was initially revived, but later died in the hospital. The final autopsy results should be available in six to eight weeks.
The 47-year-old is said to have resisted
The investigators are faced with numerous unanswered questions – and under public pressure. They have faced fierce criticism and debate about police violence since the man’s death. “We investigate thoroughly, but that takes time,” said Romeo Schuessler, the responsible prosecutor. “No one needs to ask us to find out what happened.”
The 47-year-old is said to have resisted, according to police and prosecutors. The two police officers involved are now being investigated on suspicion of causing bodily harm in office resulting in death. According to the Mannheim police chief Siegfried Kollmar, they have been suspended from duty.
According to the LKA, traces of blunt force were found on the man’s body. However, these were “of low intensity,” said Stenger. It is still unclear whether the 47-year-old died a violent or a natural death. The man also had heart failure.
Videos have been circulating online showing a police officer beating a man lying on the ground in the head.
Bodycams were not employed
According to the LKA and the public prosecutor’s office, a doctor from the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim first informed the police about the 47-year-old patient who was in need of help. The two officers and the doctor were looking for the man and found him in the city center.
The officials’ shoulder cameras or “bodycams” were not used during the operation. “It would have been helpful if they had run continuously,” said the President of the State Criminal Police Office, Andreas Stenger, in Mannheim. “That’s what the bodycam is for.” From his point of view, according to the instructions, it would have been “appropriate” to turn on the camera. Why this did not happen is the subject of the investigation.
However, GdP country chief Lottmann does not expect a debate to flare up about the use of the cameras, which have been used in tens of thousands of operations since the device was introduced nationwide in 2019. “But if the consistent use of bodycams is required, then I stand behind it,” he told the dpa. “But then it must also be allowed to be used everywhere and without compromise.”
Bodycams are primarily intended to document attacks on officials. In most cases, they are used in the so-called pre-recording mode – short sequences are continuously recorded and overwritten after 45 seconds. Only when the officer presses the button a second time is the last sequence not deleted and the further recording is also permanently saved.