"Gazeta Wyborcza" has published CCTV footage showing a police intervention in Poznań aimed at incapacitating a man suffering from schizophrenia. The cameras recorded the officers firing over a dozen shots at the man, of which five hit the target. Although the policemen have been accused of overstepping authority and casing bodily harm, they have not been suspended from duty. Their trial is to begin in March.
The incident took place in early June, 2021, at Gorzysława Street located in the Poznań's district of Antonik. At the time, we reported on the intervention at tvn24.pl. Before noon on the Feast of Corpus Christi, local residents notified the police about a man covered in blood walking around the area. A patrol was dispatched.
As "Gazeta Wyborcza" informs, that same day a woman had reported her 36-year-old son with schizophrenia went missing.
From the recorded radio communication, it appears that the officers driving to the scene in a silver unmarked van were aware that their intervention would likely pertain to this very man.
Footage from the intervention
The events that followed were captured on video from three different perspective by three CCTV cameras. The first one to appear was the 36-year-old Łukasz. Shortly after, the police officers spotted the man kneeling next to a utility pole. They stopped the van a little bit further. Three officers left stepped out of the vehicle and approached the 36-year-old. The fourth officer stayed in the van.
Poznań-based journalist Piotr Żytnicki, the author of the article published in "Gazeta Wyborcza", one of the policemen drew his gun already within the first minute of the intervention and pointed it at Łukasz. The other two followed suit.
"We can't hear what happened there as the recordings are without sound. According to the police officers, the man was to shout that he had a knife and would 'take them all to God'. You can see in the recording, and that's undeniable, that for the next six minutes nothing happens. The situation is more lazy rather than dynamic, the policemen chase away passersby, speak with a security man. Wandering what to do, they wait for an ambulance. In the meantime none of the officers comes up with an idea to get back to the car and fetch service truncheons they left there. They also didn't get the dogs that were in that police car, and they could have helped in incapacitating the ill man, if it was necessary," Żytnicki said.
After these six minutes the key moment takes place. The 36-year-old stands up and runs towards one of the officers. The shots are fired. A total of 17 within a few seconds, five of which hit the man. In the next few minutes the policemen are afraid to aproach Łukasz who requires medical help. Another patrol arrives and incapacitates the man with a paralyzer.
Police officers accused
The heavily injured 36-year-old was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery. He survived, while the prosecutor's office started to look into the intervention.
"The officers have been charged with overstepping authority and causing bodily harm. They haven't been suspended from duty because the prosecutor's office did not request such a measure, and it is not obligatory when it comes to such charges," said Andrzej Borowiak, the spokesperson for Greater Poland Police.
Prosecutor Ewa Antonowicz of District Prosecutor's Office in Zielona Góra said the indictment of the three police officers had been referred to the District Court in Poznań in December 2022. The first hearing has been scheduled for March 21.
According to the prosecutor's office, the officers are guilty of unreasonable use of excessive force in the form of firearm. They have all been accused of overstepping authority, one of them of causing a life-threatening disease, while the other two - of causing impairment of bodily functions.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvn24.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Gazeta Wyborcza