Cologne: Several police officers suspended

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Police Headquarters Cologne (archive picture)

Photo: Sascha Steinach / imago images

After the death of a 59-year-old, several police officers in Cologne are investigated on suspicion of bodily harm in the office.

They are suspected of having used "excessive force" against the man and injuring him in April 2021 during a mission to escape an accident, the public prosecutor said.

The officials between the ages of 24 and 40 have been temporarily suspended from duty.

The operation is said to have been an accident escape in the Cologne district of Bickendorf. The 59-year-old was then taken to a hospital, which he left on the same day after outpatient treatment. In June 2021, however - after a two-week inpatient stay in a clinic - he died. Whether the death of the Italian national is related to what happened during the police operation is now being examined. The Bonn police were entrusted with the investigation.

"The later deceased was not the accused in the proceedings for unauthorized removal from the scene of the accident, but a relative," explained a spokesman for the public prosecutor.

Apparently he interfered in the police operation.

"What actually happened then is the subject of the ongoing investigation." It has not yet been finally clarified, for example, whether the 59-year-old had resisted.

Relatives had reported the incident in April after the death of the man.

The body was then autopsied.

Further suspicions

In the course of the investigation, further suspicions emerged beyond the specific case.

According to the public prosecutor's office, cell phones were evaluated, among other things.

Some police officers are now also suspected of having exchanged private chats with other officers about official processes that could be criminally relevant.

Among other things, it is about a possible appointment to use force, said the spokesman for the prosecutor.

Officials are said to have agreed to work together, for example, "in order to counter possible acts of resistance by potential accused persons with excessive violence."

It is now also being checked whether this actually happened.

No information was given about the exact number of police officers being investigated.

According to the prosecutor, they are all men.

Concrete evidence of a possible racist motive has so far not been available in the case, said the spokesman.

wit / dpa