“I shot low both times…”: What the police officer claimed in his apology for shooting the 16-year-old

Disagreement between investigator and prosecutor arose as to criminal treatment of the 34-year-old police officer of the DI.AS team. who is accused of shooting the 16-year-old Roma, during a pursuit, in Diavata, Thessaloniki, as a result of which he seriously injured his head.

The accused police officer, who is being prosecuted for attempted murder with intent (felony) and unlawful shooting to immobilize or neutralize (misdemeanor) he apologized in the morning to the 1st ordinary investigator of Thessaloniki. In the subsequent conference, an investigator and a prosecutor disagreed about the measure of his pre-trial detention, as the former judged negatively and the latter recommended his temporary detention. The competent Council of Misdemeanors of Thessaloniki is now called upon within five working days to resolve the above dispute. Until then, as the Criminal Procedure provides, he will be released, but will remain under house arrest.

The 34-year-old police officer, with the rank of constable, apologized by memorandum, while he answered clarifying questions put to him by the investigator. According to information, he expressed his regret for the serious injury suffered by the minor, expressing the wish that he overcomes the danger and recovers.

The policeman’s apology

Regarding his defensive line, as it became known, he insisted that he acted in legitimate defense, due to the danger that – as he claimed – his colleagues in the front faced. “I had to save my colleagues,” he allegedly apologized, repeating what he said during the preliminary investigation, that the two shots were fired with the intention of hitting the tires of the farm car the 16-year-old was driving. “I didn’t mean to kill the driver, otherwise I would have emptied the magazine,” he reportedly said.

During his 50-minute testimony, the accused constable was asked to describe minute by minute the pursuit, from the moment he and his three colleagues (in pairs of two police motorcycle officers) were informed by the gas station attendant that a driver had left without paying the price for fuel.

The 16-year-old was allegedly swerving, left and right, and despite being given repeated orders to pull over, he ignored them and continued on his way, repeatedly breaking traffic signals, making sharp U-turns and three attempts to ram the car in front. of his two colleagues.

As he described, in the last attempt to embolize, as soon as he realized that the agricultural vehicle was speeding towards his colleagues’ machine, “we lost sight of the machine, we couldn’t make it out and we thought it had managed to overtake them, so I took out the service my gun and fired twice, holding it only with my right hand, because our machine was in motion.”

“I shot low both times, towards the tires of the car, but due to the irregularity of the ground at that particular spot, due to the fact that there were railroad tracks at this spot and the asphalt is distorted, the motorcycle bounced, resulting in the gun, due to the unexpected and unpredicted bounce, to be higher up and thus bring about the tragic result,” he reportedly claimed, adding that “despite the fact that we were not moving at high speed, I could not aim accurately because I was holding the gun with one hand and I had a distance of at least fifteen meters from the agricultural vehicle”.

As he added, after the shooting, the rural vehicle deviated from its course and ended up against a wall of an adjacent hotel. “We did not choose to check the vehicle ourselves, but waited for reinforcements. Within 3-4 minutes, an OPKE team arrived at the scene and then we approached the truck and found that the driver of the vehicle had been injured in the head, while there was a hole in the back window of the truck, behind the headrest […] When I realized his injury I was shocked, as both my shots were aimed low,” he said.

Protests outside the courts

During the apology, Roma groups had gathered outside the Thessaloniki courts, shouting slogans against the police, asking for “justice to be served”, while a corresponding call had been made by people belonging to the wider anti-authoritarian space.

The presence of EL.AS. in the area was evident and emergency security and order measures were taken. After the process was completed, the gathered left peacefully. Shortly after noon, the 26th of October street, which had been closed, was also opened to traffic.

RES-EMP

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