Police officer acquitted after throwing handcuffed 17-year-old to the floor in Malmö
A police officer in Malmö has been acquitted of assault after throwing the handcuffed 17-year-old Sara unconscious on to the floor of the custody suite. The prosecutor does not share the district court's assessment and is considering appealing.
Police officer acquitted after striking 17-year-old girl unconscious in Malmö custody suite
A police officer in Malmö has been acquitted of assault by the district court – despite throwing the handcuffed 17-year-old Sara to the floor head-first, causing her to lose consciousness and bleed from her mouth. This is reported by Sydsvenskan.
The incident occurred on the evening of 18 September last year. Sara, whose real name is different, was one of several young people attending a chaotic flat party in western Malmö. Neighbours called the police, and when a patrol arrived, the heavily intoxicated Sara refused to follow the officers' instructions. She alternated between being aggressive, shouting threats and profanities at the police, and asking for help managing her blood sugar level.
Initially, Sara's mother was to pick her up, but because the mother was home alone with Sara's minor siblings, the police officers offered to drive the 17-year-old home. The decision was changed, however, and Sara was instead driven to a drunk tank for sobering up. She was deemed so disruptive that she was handcuffed and fitted with a spit hood.
Thrown to the floor head-first
Once in custody, Sara was placed on a bench with a police officer on either side. When she repeatedly tried to stand up, one of the officers grabbed her arm and threw her head-first on to the hard floor. Sara lost consciousness and began to bleed from her mouth. Several people rushed over, one of them fetched a defibrillator and cut Sara's clothes.
It was established that Sara still had a pulse and soon she regained consciousness. She was driven to the children's emergency department, where doctors established that she was severely swollen and bruised in the face – but that she had avoided serious head injuries. Sara has a complete memory gap from the evening. "I remember nothing from that evening," she says.
District court: intent to injure not proven
The incident was captured on CCTV. The district court states that the police officer objectively meets the elements of assault, and according to the court the video can be interpreted as him losing his temper, having had enough and throwing Sara to the floor.
During the trial, the police officer stated that he had not intended to injure Sara – on the contrary, he was attempting to carry out a controlled lowering to reduce the risk that she would injure herself. Both he and his colleague testified that they communicated with each other about laying Sara down, but that the colleague did not keep up with the movement, which caused Sara to fall without support.
That explanation was sufficient for the police officer to be acquitted. The district court emphasises that the situation was loud and disruptive because of Sara's behaviour, which increased the risk of misunderstanding. From the CCTV footage, it is also not possible to establish whether the police officer and his colleague spoke to each other immediately before Sara fell. Furthermore, the police officer was not involved in the initial intervention at the flat party, which according to the district court speaks against him having wanted to injure her.
The prosecutor alternatively argued that the police officer should be convicted of causing bodily injury – nor is he found guilty of that offence.
Sara convicted of violent resistance
Sara was during the trial both the injured party and the accused. She is now convicted of violent resistance and violence against an officer and receives a sentence of 35 hours of youth service.
"His colleagues are protecting him"
Sara's mother is disappointed with the verdict. "The feeling is that it is difficult when it is a police officer who is set against a drunk and stubborn teenager during a trial," she says. She also states that the police officers who were with Sara at the children's emergency department claimed that the girl got her injuries by falling. "They lied to me straight to my face when I questioned how she could have such injuries merely by falling."
The mother emphasises that her daughter acknowledged that she behaved badly during the evening, but argues that this does not justify what happened in the custody suite. "There is no excuse for what he did, and his colleagues are protecting him," she says.
Prosecutor considering appeal
Prosecutor Lars Morand, who prosecuted the police officer, has not yet taken a position on whether the verdict should be appealed. "I do not share the district court's assessment. That suggests I want the next instance to look at the case," he says.
Source: Sydsvenskan