“I aimed as low as I could and in no case towards the driver or passenger side,” the police officer who shot at the 16-year-old during the pursuit states, among other things, in his testimony
What preceded the injury and immobilization of the 16-year-old Roma during the pursuit in Thessaloniki is described in his testimony by the police officer who shot at the young man, causing him serious head injuries.
According to his testimony, presented today by kathimerini.gr, the police officer stated that he was initially with his colleagues at the gas station from which the pursuit began when the employee of the store approached them and informed them that the driver of the agricultural vehicle had €20 worth of fuel and then left without paying.
“I didn’t see who and what the driver was like, nor did the service station employee tell us anything about the driver. As soon as the clerk mentioned it to us, we immediately got on the machines and left the gas station to locate the farm. We also activated the motorcycle sirens,” he noted.
The policeman then referred to what happened from the moment they spotted the agricultural vehicle and wanted to immobilize it. “After a few seconds, moving in Monastiriou towards the center of the city, we saw the agricultural vehicle moving in the opposite direction, towards the exit of the city. On the spot we made a U-turn and started to follow the rural road. At about the height of the Hellenic Petroleum company, we saw that the rural one stopped at the red light. The 1st motorcycle then, while we were behind, approached the rural from the passenger side and went alongside it. But, as we could see while approaching, the rural, instead of obeying, made a sharp maneuver to the right with the apparent intention of ramming the motorcycle. My colleagues noticed this immediately and in a flash they also maneuvered to the right and avoided the collision. Then the agricultural vehicle violated the red light, developed speed and continued its course straight. We followed him. The next traffic light, even though it was red, was violated again by the rural driver and he turned in the direction of Diavata prisons,” he described.
The policeman then described what happened next until he finally decided to pull out his gun and shoot.
“At the last railway tracks before the prisons, for no apparent reason and while he could have continued straight to escape, he suddenly and quite abruptly turned around. He probably did a U-turn, as we saw the vehicle turning, applying the parking brake. We understood this from the way the car turned on its axis on the spot, making a turn of more than 180 degrees, causing it to suddenly come head-on, and slightly diagonally, with my colleagues’ motorcycle. As soon as this was done, after the motorcycle of my colleagues saw him approaching at a distance of about five meters, for a few seconds both the peasant and the 1st motorcycle stopped. Constable A. then started giving orders to the driver of the rural car. But again he did not obey and after pressing the gas, he went at speed to crash into them. At the last moment, however, the motorcycle avoided the collision for the second time. (…) With this done, the rural did not continue straight, but made a normal U-turn on the road. And as soon as he made a U-turn he didn’t stop, but immediately hit the gas again and moved again for the 3rd time against my colleagues who were in front of him at a very short distance. (…) At that moment, as soon as I saw that the farmer was going for the 3rd time to hit and run over my colleagues, I took out my gun and shot twice over the moving machine. Once in the air and once towards the farm vehicle down low. I couldn’t aim accurately because I was holding the gun with one hand. When I fired I was at least 10 meters away from the farm and I was about at the height of the lines. At this point the road has a small downhill slope and is a bit uneven, because large trucks pass through there and thus irregularities have been created on the road surface. As soon as I fired, I saw the rural vehicle deviate from its course and ended up on the wall of an adjacent hotel, a few meters later. (…) Honestly, I didn’t mark either the driver or the cab of the farmer. I aimed as low as I could and under no circumstances towards the driver’s or passenger’s side.”
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