Police violence in Idstein: Videos convict police officers

Created: 01/04/2023 09:49 am

By: Pitt von Bebenburg

Captured by the surveillance camera: violent action by three police officers and one policewoman.

©screenshot

The reconstruction of video recordings shows police violence against a 38-year-old.

The video was previously considered deleted, the police officers described the incident very differently.

Idstein - There are disturbing images that can be seen on the videos of the surveillance cameras.

A man in a red shirt is violently brought to the ground by police officers and a policewoman, first with a fist, then with the palm of his hand in the face until a policeman presses his knee on his neck while the victim's face scrapes the ground , reports fr.de.

All of this was captured by cameras installed just outside the police station in Idstein (Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis) where the incident took place.

But these videos were dubbed because the police hadn't secured them in time - although Michael Heuchemer, the lawyer for the person concerned, had expressly asked for it.

In fact, they were initially considered deleted.

But now the recordings have been painstakingly reconstructed on the initiative of the Wiesbaden public prosecutor's office and are available to the Frankfurter Rundschau.

This not only makes the brutality of what happened clear, but also that several officers have apparently made false statements about it.

Police violence in Idstein: Video shows incident

The argument took place in September 2020 in front of the police station.

Liam Conway, a then 38-year-old gastronomic entrepreneur and sports trainer in kickboxing, was badly marked with bloody injuries to his face.

The Idsteiner had picked up his 75-year-old father, who had to deal with a traffic accident at the station.

Several people filmed the altercation.

Their videos showed three police officers pushing Conway to the ground.

Conway yells, "ah, ah, I can't breathe!

Please, please!” and “I'm panicking!”.

Injured: Liam Conway.

© Private

Accounts of how this came about varied widely.

Police described Conway's demeanor as aggressive.

He tried to snatch the pepper spray from an officer and had to be tied up.

Conway spoke of baseless violence.

The video recordings of the surveillance cameras in front of the guard now confirm the portrayal of the person concerned.

Video shows fist punch

From two perspectives it is easy to see how Conway is escorted out of the station by three officers and one woman without him resisting or becoming aggressive.

As soon as the door opens, a policeman puts him in a chokehold from behind.

The officers bring him to the ground while the policewoman stands by and they force his arms behind his back.

Then they pin him to the ground, with one policeman acting particularly brutally.

He hits Conway once with his fist and once with the palm of his hand against the head, which is pinned to the ground.

Then he kneels on Conway's neck.

While Conway and the police officers reported each other, it turned out that the key piece of evidence had been destroyed: the surveillance camera footage.

The footage was "as technically preset, after 21 days systemic and automatically overwritten by new recordings," said the West Hesse police headquarters of the FR in 2021.

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Police do not back up camera data: police chief called it "very annoying"

Police officers watched the videos the day after the crime.

Nobody wants to have thought of securing them.

A police officer responsible said he tried too late to back up the data.

Since they were already overwritten.

The then police chief of West Hesse, Stefan Müller, now Frankfurt police chief, called the omission "very annoying".

Conway, who reported three police officers and one policewoman to the office for assault, feels encouraged.

He told the FR he was stunned "that the officers had claimed so unanimously and in a coordinated manner that I had attacked them and wanted to disarm them, so to speak, all by myself".

He was very relieved that the surveillance videos "convicted them of the untruth".

From his point of view, it is clear - "there can be no discussion".

Police violence in Idstein: the lawyer is shocked

It is unclear how the police officers involved react to the restored recordings - whether they correct statements or withdraw charges against Conway.

The West Hesse police headquarters referred to the Wiesbaden public prosecutor.

There spokesman Florian Breidenbach of FR confirmed that the recording had been reconstructed.

Further information could not be given.

Lawyer Heuchemer calls it "remarkable" that the videos disappeared at the time, contrary to an assurance from the police.

He finds even more scandalous how "clearly wrong" the officials said - apparently on the assumption that the recordings had disappeared.

"Of course we must and will bring this to legal consequences," added the lawyer.

It is "shocking and disturbing" when officers "break the legal order to which they are sworn".

(Pitt von Bebenburg)