Kassel – A paramedic beats a man who is fixed on a stretcher with his fist. In March 2021, BILD revealed the incident in a refugee shelter in Kassel, and a surveillance camera filmed the attack.
Investigations have been initiated against all those involved: against the paramedic (45) on suspicion of bodily harm, against police officers watching inactive on suspicion of preventing punishment, against the refugee Amar H. (33), who was fixed on the stretcher, for assaulting rescue workers.
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Dangerous injustice
This scandal undermines what our state stands for. A paramedic hits a bound, defenseless man in the face with a running run.
Two investigations have now been closed. Only the Syrian is still being investigated in Kassel
That happened: On the night of November 8, 2020, Amar H. had rioted in the accommodation while drunk and emptied a fire extinguisher in the foyer of the building. When the police approached, he attacked the officers with a ladder. The police incapacitated the rioter with pepper spray and fixed him on a stretcher. From there, as evidenced by the images from the surveillance camera, the Syrian spat in the direction of the paramedic. Thereupon the fuses blew and he struck. The police officers present did not intervene.
The paramedic strikes, a surveillance camera is filmingPhoto: private
Amar H. then told BILD that he could not remember anything. The caretaker of the property only showed him the video the day after the incident. The Syrian then filed a complaint. A medical report available to BILD confirmed that Amar H. had a double fracture of the cheekbone a few days after the blow.
The Kassel public prosecutor’s office took its time with the investigation. The BKA analyzed the video, and a forensic doctor examined the injuries. Now the first decisions.
“The investigation against the 45-year-old paramedic on suspicion of bodily harm was discontinued due to a lack of sufficient suspicion,” said Andreas Thöne, press spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office. “The evaluated video material does not reflect the exact hit of the blow.” According to the evaluation by the BKA, there are “legitimate doubts that the blow in question hit the 33-year-old in the face.”
Syrian Amar H. (32) had rioted while drunk and could only be tamed with pepper spray. Officers tied him to a stretcher with straps. Then he was attacked by a paramedicPhoto: private
In other words, it cannot be ruled out beyond any doubt that the punch hit the headrest of the stretcher instead of the Syrian’s face. Nor is it guaranteed “that the attested facial injury was caused by the video-documented blow.”
The investigations against the police officers have also been discontinued. Avoiding punishment is ruled out simply because “no act of bodily harm that could be thwarted to the detriment of the 33-year-old Syrian national was found,” said Thöne.
In other words: The indifferent police officers are not punished because it is not clear where the paramedic’s blow actually hit.
The paramedic’s lawyer now considers his client to be “completely rehabilitated”
“I welcome the fact that the investigation by the Kassel public prosecutor’s office against my client has now been discontinued,” said defense attorney Jörg Estorf. Because of the reporting, he now considers his beating client to be the real victim: “An alleged perpetrator became a victim. There are months of prejudice behind him, as well as the loss of his job due to the untrue reporting of a large national daily newspaper. ”
BILD had reported on the incident several times – including the doubts of the defense as to whether the blow actually hit the Syrian’s head. Amar H., his lawyer, public prosecutor, police and defense attorney had their say. The paramedic did not want to comment on BILD. He did not say which parts of the reporting his lawyer now considers “untrue”. However, one reserves the right to take legal action – “against the alleged victim and his legal counsel”.
The only investigation that is now continuing is against the Syrian Amar H. whose lawyer is furious.
“It seems that the law enforcement authorities in Hesse have a problem in their right eye,” said defense attorney Adnan Aykac. “The paramedic made the attempted bodily harm punishable by immediately starting to strike. But otherwise there is also a complete bodily harm, since Mr. H.’s head swayed back and forth on the occasion of the blow. In this respect, his physical well-being was not only negligibly impaired as a result of the blow. ”
With this decision, “apparently recklessly accepted that trust in the rule of law is dwindling by creating the impression of good and bad perpetrators and good and bad victims.”