Police and the Department of Emergency Situations are investigating the intervention of crews in the case of a young man from Bucharest, who was believed to be under the influence of several drugs and suffered multiple injuries, and later died in hospital. Relatives of the deceased accuse the police of a brutal beating, which is why they did not use the provided body cameras. Images previously released by Europol instead show the young man hit his head on the car himself.

The police and the prosecutor’s office have opened an investigation into the intervention of some police teams in Bucharest, called to immobilize a man with unruly behavior, who later died in hospital.

The incident happened on September 18, and the relatives of the deceased accuse the police of ill-treatment and the fact that they did not require the intervention of medical teams to provide first aid to the young man.

One of the accusations was that the police did not use cameras so that they could not be seen beating the young man.

Romanian police spokesman Georgian Dragan told a news conference on Thursday that internal investigations are underway to determine why the officers who intervened in the case did not use body cameras.

• “Regarding the method of use of these body cameras, the leadership of the Metropolitan Police did not appoint a preliminary investigation into the method of intervention, because it is impossible, given that we have a criminal proceeding, a criminal proceeding that is being investigated at the level of the prosecutor’s office at the Bucharest Court. Therefore, there are currently internal checks on the use, or rather the non-use, of the bodycam devices provided. I can add that from the first moment, all the available images, both on the body camera that was working at that time, and on the surveillance cameras in the relevant area, were provided to the prosecutor from the attached prosecutor’s office. to District Court 5 and, subsequently, at the disposal of the prosecutor from the Prosecutor’s Office at the Bucharest Court,” said Dragan the Georgian.

He also presented the film of that event.

• “On September 18, 2023, at 3:16 p.m., the first 112 call was received from a man who reported that a man in his underwear was falling on the floor and making noise on Stantsia Giorgiy Christiana Lane. I quoted exactly the 112 signal. That same day, at about 3:18, the dispatcher of the 5th sector sends three policemen to the case, all from the 17th police department. At 3:19 a 112 call is registered from a woman, this time about a naked man walking down the street, screaming and rolling on the floor, and I quoted the same thing from the 112 call, not my words. At 3:20 p.m., a woman called 112 and reported, I quote, that a man is standing in front of her window, whose behavior suggests the use of prohibited substances, he is hitting the ground hard. and this is in front of the V-91 unit,” said Dregan, a Georgian.

He added that the police used tear gas and tonfa because the man was unruly.

• “Around 3:22, the first crew consisting of three policemen, two policemen and a policewoman, respectively, arrives at the scene, and after about two or three minutes, and here I clarify that it was not possible to establish the exact time, because all the documentation is in the original, but after about two or three minutes a caller is contacted who confirms what they reported and gives the direction of the man. At 03:23, a second police team consisting of a policeman and a policewoman arrived in the specified area, who immediately upon arriving at the scene contacted the specified person and, seeing the police team, the young man ran away, and the police chased after him. The young man was caught a block away on Sebastian Street, where, according to the data released by the Prosecutor’s Office at the Bucharest Court through this press release, he became unruly, so that the police used available means, respectively, causing irritation. a tear gas canister and a tonfa,” the representative of the IGPR also stated.

He noted that the police called an ambulance because the man was bleeding.

• “At 3.30 or 3.31 minutes after the end of the intervention, I emphasize, immediately after the end of the intervention, the police called for an ambulance because the person was bleeding, he was bleeding at that time. Meanwhile, policemen of the first crew also arrived at the place of immobilization, and went to search for him on another street. At 3:33 a.m., the SMURD brigade leaves to provide medical assistance, approximately at 3:45 a.m., an ambulance arrives at the scene. At the same time, a police crew from Section 18, consisting of two police officers, arrived at the scene, but they did not intervene in the event, as their support was not necessary in the incident, as they were informed by the police officers present. at the scene, respectively, policemen of the 17th police department. After that, the person is taken to the university hospital,” Georgian Dregan also reported.

For their part, representatives of the DSU also announced on Thursday that they had started investigations into the intervention of the SMURD crew.

• “The Department of Emergency Situations (Emergencies) understands the seriousness of the situation and took note of the information that appeared in the open space regarding the provision of qualified first and emergency medical aid to a patient brought by the SMURD brigade to the emergency reception point. Department (UPU) of the Bucharest University Hospital Emergency, 18.09.2023. In this sense, taking into account the request of the Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, a control commission was created to carry out a detailed investigation of the said incident. The purpose of this commission is to check compliance with the rules of the national system of emergency medical care, as well as the implementation of individual measures from the point of view of providing qualified first and emergency medical care in the area established by the legislation in force within the competence of the DSU,” the DSU sent.

The Europol trade union published footage showing a young man dressed only in underwear behaving erratically and repeatedly hitting cars and the asphalt.

“The drama of the young man, who was under the influence of 5 psychoactive substances, was caused by the action of drugs,” the trade unions reported.

According to them, “a medical-legal report, carried out after an autopsy conducted in the presence of the family and an external expert brought in from outside the institution, did not reveal any marks of a blow, shoe or other object. in the area of ​​the skull, with the exception of the multiple body/hard plane impacts caused by the fall, which can also be seen in the video images that are being shared.”

The trade unions also released footage from police cameras.