Police bill over 59 euros: lateral thinker guru wins before the administrative court in Regensburg

Created: 08/20/2022, 21:44

By: Stefan Aigner

Lateral thinker Helmut Bauer sued against a decision on costs from the police.

© Stefan Aigner

Because a police officer had to use “direct coercion” against him during a demo, the Corona measures critic Helmut Bauer should pay 59 euros.

Regensburg

Helmut Bauer appeared alone in court.

He appealed against a decision on costs from the police before the administrative court in Regensburg.

It's about 59 euros.

The pensioner with the cowboy hat is a familiar face in the lateral thinking scene and among critics of the Corona measures.

He appeared as a speaker at various demonstrations and rallies in the Upper Palatinate.

On New Year's Day, he spoke at a rally in front of the arcades with around 1,400 participants and a subsequent demonstration around the old town.

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Regensburg: lateral thinking guru Bauer organized a rally with conspiracy theorists

This week, however, the administrative court of the city of Regensburg is dealing with an incident that is said to have taken place on November 18, 2020 in Weiden.

About 200 people had gathered there that day, Dr.

Bodo Schiffmann on his "bus tour" through Germany.

The “con doctor”, a conspiracy theorist, climate change denier and currently defender of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, who has since moved to Tanzania, was a celebrity in the lateral thinking scene at the time.

Bauer, also a climate change denier and someone who suspects that the corona pandemic had been prepared for a long time, helped organize Schiffmann's appearance.

But actually he says he was just a normal meeting participant, he says in court.

Regensburg: Bauer films a police operation – an officer intervenes

He observed how another participant was surrounded by riot police – apparently a check for a mask certificate.

"Do you need help?

Should I film," he called out to the person concerned and then started recording with his cell phone.

Then he followed the officials at a reasonable distance and in silence to document the operation.

Suddenly a hand came from the right and twisted his arm down.

And he was asked to stop filming.

Four months later, Bauer was billed 59 euros for this “use of direct coercion” – for “police costs”.

A possibility provided for by the Bavarian Police Tasks Act.

Bodo Schiffmann - From doctor to conspiracy ideologue

Lateral thinker Bauer on the mission: "I wasn't a threat"

But Bauer does not want to pay for this "service" by the riot police.

All of that was completely unnecessary.

He did not pose any threat, nor did he interfere.

A simple cue to stop filming would have sufficed, he explains.

"You didn't have to touch me for that." He even briefly considered reporting the officer because his arm hurt.

"But that's no use.

In the end nobody knows who that was.”

All of this can be clearly seen on the video that he recorded at the time.

That he kept his decency and was silent.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have the video to hand.

Bauer has to answer in a criminal case for "hate speech".

The mayor of Neustadt an der Waldnaab was threatened in a user comment on a website he operated, and there was also talk of "hanging" and "shooting," as Bauer admits.

In the course of the investigation, Bauer's mobile phone and laptop were confiscated and he has not yet been able to access the data.

However, he was recently signaled that a download might be possible.

Then he could present it.

A young mother lost her job at the environmental agency because she lives on the site of a contractor with whom the city of Regensburg is at loggerheads.

Arm twisted or not?

Policeman and witness contradict each other

The chamber chaired by Dr.

Andreas Fischer first wants to listen to the witnesses who have been summoned.

The riot police officer who stopped Bauer from filming described the incident very differently.

According to his descriptions, there was no arm twisting or the like.

Bauer tried to "influence" what was happening, according to the police officer.

He "filmed aggressively", "excited himself loudly" and got too close to the other officials.

Then he turned around, pushed him back with his hand on his chest and asked him to stop filming.

There was nothing more.

It only took a blink of an eye.

Bauer's version, on the other hand, is confirmed by a 36-year-old nanny.

"Der Helmut" did nothing, just filmed, when suddenly one of these "black-clad men", she means the riot police, ran up to him and tried to knock the mobile phone out of his hand.

He then twisted his arm to take the phone away from him.

"It was an assault," the 36-year-old is convinced.

The official was "a bit aggressive".

59 euros for a police operation: the court agrees with the lateral thinker Bauer

The chamber leaves all of this a little doubtful.

Chairman Fischer notes that the question has always been whether the police must impose a cost accounting in every case, which would then occupy the court at considerably greater expense in terms of time and money.

After all, the authority has the burden of proof that the deployment was justified.

But in the end, the representatives of the police and government do not want to get involved in a withdrawal of the cost notice.

And so the administrative court in Regensburg overturned it the next day and agreed with Helmut Bauer.

The costs of the procedure are borne by the state treasury.

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