There has been growing controversy in Poland over the death of a man following the use of force against him by police. Violent protests have taken place outside the local police headquarters, and discrepancies have emerged in accounts of when and how he died.
The initial incident, part of which was caught on camera and posted online, took place on Friday in the western town of Lubin. Officers had been called out following reports of a man – identified only as Bartosz S. – acting aggressively, including throwing stones at windows.
The emergency call had been made by the 34-year-old man’s own mother, who said he had been using drugs. According to police, due to his “very aggressive” behaviour the man had to be forcibly restrained by officers, who used “incapacitating holds and handcuffs”.
As his “irrational behaviour” continued, and due to suspicions that he was under the influence of drugs, further officers and paramedics were called to the scene. Two hours after Bartosz S. had been taken away in an ambulance, police were informed that he had died in hospital, according to their statement.
However, on Saturday, a local opposition MP, Piotr Borys, posted images of a letter sent by prosecutors to Bartosz S.’s parents that said he had, in fact, already been dead at the scene of the incident, based on the testimony of a paramedic.
Some witnesses have also told media that Bartosz died before being taken away in an ambulance. But police have maintained that he “retained vital signs at the time he was handed over to the medical team”.
On Sunday, a crowd of a few hundred people gathered to protest outside the police headquarters in Lubin. Some became aggressive, throwing bottles, stones and Molotov cocktails. In response, police used tear gas and detained 57 people, reported Polsat News. Six police officers were injured.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into possible abuse of powers by police officers as well as manslaughter. However, a dispute has already emerged between them and Bartosz S.’s family following the completion of a post mortem.
“No signs of trauma nor of injuries from pressure or choking” were found on the body, said deputy district prosecutor Arkadiusz Kulik, quoted by Polsat. “The cause of death has not been established” and there is as yet no evidence of a crime by police, he added.
But a lawyer for the family, Wojciech Kasprzyk, told Radio Wrocław that he had “firm information” that Bartosz S.’s larynx had been fractured, causing him to suffocate. Broadcaster Radio Zet reported that an unnamed nurse from the hospital that treated Bartosz S. had said the same.
Bartosz S.’s sister also said that the prosecutors’ office had refused to issue a copy of the autopsy to the family and his mother says she has not been allowed to see his body at all. The family have asked for a new autopsy to be carried out in the presence of their lawyers.
They also told Gazeta Wyborcza that, after police learned that Bartosz S.’s mother had recorded the incident, officers came to her home and took her phone without showing a search warrant or providing any other documentation.
The newspaper’s sources say that Bartosz S. was well known to police, who had “used violence against him more than once” in the past. They claim that Bartosz S. was “loud and agitated but not aggressive”. His sister told naTemat that Bartosz had previously had psychiatric treatment for his drug problem and “wanted to start a new life”.
In parliament, the second largest opposition party, The Left (Lewica), has issued a demand for the interior minister to release information relating to the case. One of its MPs called for the local police commander and officers involved in the incident to be suspended.
Many have likened the case to the death of another man, Igor Stachowiak, in 2016 after he was repeatedly tasered by police on floor of a police station bathroom. The incident only came fully to light after broadcaster TVN obtained footage of it, and the officers were eventually sentenced to prison.
Their abuse only came to light after @tvn24 received and broadcast footage of the incident in which the detained man was tasered on the bathroom floor while handcuffed
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) June 21, 2019
Main image credit: Tomasz Pietrzyk / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
