Official action escalates

Head hit against asphalt: police officer charged

The 34-year-old officer pleaded not guilty.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

While three other police officers pushed a 19-year-old to the ground, a colleague is said to have hit his head twice against the asphalt with full force. Because a murder had taken place at the scene shortly beforehand, video recordings clearly show the official act. The defendant demands an acquittal in court in Vienna. And he gets it ...

There are harrowing video recordings that are also played several times on the second day of the trial in the Vienna Regional Court on Wednesday. They show how four police officers wrestle a young man to the ground, one of the officers hits his head twice on the ground - until the 19-year-old is bleeding.

The 34-year-old officer pleaded not guilty.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

Violence against bystanders during murder investigations
The public prosecutor accused the 34-year-old police officer of abuse of authority. "He used massive violence against the victim. There is no justification for this behavior. Officers are trained to keep a cool head even in such stressful situations."

It was certainly a stressful situation at the time. Because the incident shares the scene with the Simmering print shop murder - an Iranian man (35) had shot dead a fellow countryman in a small copy store and was already serving a 15-year prison sentence. Shortly after the fatal shooting on May 7, 2023, the 19-year-old wanted to go to an ATM in the cordoned-off crime scene area. When the police asked him to identify himself, the young victim refused.

He hit the young man's head on the asphalt with full force not just once, but twice.

Die Staatsanwältin im Wiener Landesgericht

The acts of violence that followed were filmed from several angles by media teams present and surveillance cameras from surrounding businesses on Simmeringer Hauptstraße. "He hit the young man's head on the asphalt with full force not just once, but twice," the public prosecutor clarified. 

"Maybe I accidentally pushed too hard"
The accused police officer denies the incident documented on video. He had only pushed the bystander to the ground because he had put up a massive resistance to the official action: "Maybe I accidentally pushed too hard. But I don't know what else I should have done."

At the time, he didn't know whether the man might have been involved in the murder he had just committed. "When the alleged murderer was arrested, was it already clear that there was only one perpetrator?" his defense lawyer asked. "No, it wasn't. From the very beginning, there was talk of several men arguing in the store," recalls the accused officer. 

For the public prosecutor, however, it is also clear on the second day of the trial that the actions of the Viennese were an abuse of authority: "A constitutional state must punish such actions with full severity. The issue here is that the victim's fundamental right to physical integrity was violated."

"Not exceeding the justifiable level" of violence
After just under an hour of deliberation, the decision of the panel of lay assessors is reached: the accused police officer receives the acquittal he had demanded. The panel of lay assessors did not see any deliberate abuse of authority and the accused had not "exceeded the justifiable extent" of his use of force. 

To the horror of the public prosecutor, she lodged an appeal for annulment during the trial. "The verdict was obviously prescribed and read out in advance," she accuses the judge. The decision had not been made after thorough consultation with the lay assessors.