We commemorate a man with Croatian roots who was killed on May 2, 2022 during a police operation in Mannheim.

A doctor from the Central Institute for Mental Health had called the police because one of his patients had left the facility without prior consultation and might need help. Two officers and the doctor then searched the man. According to police reports, the man "resisted", "suddenly collapsed" and had to be resuscitated "for unknown reasons".

Videos of the crime show that the police officers sprayed the 47-year-old with pepper spray, caused him severe nosebleeds with punches, threw him on his stomach on the ground and knelt on him. They brutally punched him in the head. The man was handcuffed afterwards.

He died on the same day in the Mannheim University Hospital. According to a report commissioned by the Mannheim public prosecutor's office to determine the cause of death, the cause of death was "respiratory impediment due to position and fixation" and the resulting "metabolic derailment" and "suffocation due to bleeding in the upper respiratory tract".

At the end of 2022, the public prosecutor's office in Mannheim filed charges against the two police officers involved in the operation for bodily injury resulting in death and negligent homicide by omission. It is not yet clear whether the case will go to trial. Investigations are also still underway against the accompanying doctor.

Quellen: swr.de zeit.de, tagesspiegel.de, sueddeutsche.de, swr.de(2)

Link: doku.deathincustody.info/cases/2022-05-02-name_unbekannt-8-46604/