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Forensics are working at the scene of the crime on May 2nd
Photo: René Priebe / dpa
A 47-year-old man who collapsed during a police operation in Mannheim in May died an unnatural death.
According to an expert report, the man died because he could no longer breathe because of his body position and the bondage, as the public prosecutor of the Baden-Württemberg city announced.
According to the investigators, findings from the histological and chemical-toxicological investigations were included in the report.
According to the autopsy, the victim suffered from heart failure.
So far, more than 70 witnesses have been heard and around 120 videos of the incident have been viewed.
The public prosecutor's office will now evaluate the evidence and reports.
The investigation was ongoing, it said.
The man died during a police operation on May 2nd.
He was a patient in the Mannheim psychiatric ward and fled from there.
A doctor then alerted the police and followed him, as an LKA spokesman said.
Two police officers and the doctor were able to locate the patient downtown.
A video of part of the operation before the man collapsed circulated on Twitter.
There you can see a man lying on his stomach on the ground.
Two police officers are kneeling over him, they have crossed the man's arms behind his back, apparently to handcuff him.
The man writhes and screams.
When he comes up with his upper body, one of the officers hits him twice in the head with his fist.
After that, the man still squirms and groans, but the officer can then apparently put handcuffs on him.
Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against the two police officers involved.
In the case of another police operation with a fatal outcome in Mannheim just a few days later, the public prosecutor's office stopped investigating a police officer on Tuesday.
The investigators saw the behavior of the police officer as self-defense.
He shot a 31-year-old in the leg.
According to the investigation, he ultimately died as a result of a high level of blood loss from knife wounds that he had inflicted on himself.
kha/AFP
