Madrid Cop Arrested: Neck Restraint Leads to Death of Moroccan Man in Alleged Phone Theft

The events took place during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. In a video of the scene that went viral, we can see a police officer restraining the alleged thief by the neck. Although witnesses asked him to release the 35-year-old young man, the police officer maintained him in this position until the arrival of a national police patrol. The agents could only note the death of the victim, who did not respond to resuscitation attempts.

The young man would have violently assaulted and stolen the mobile phone of a municipal police officer in Madrid who was out to dinner with other colleagues. Two police officers, a sexagenarian retiree and another who was not on duty, set out in pursuit of the thief and managed to catch him at the level of Calle Pesquera. According to witnesses, the latter resisted his arrest, but eventually calmed down. Despite this, the police officer continued to hold him firmly by the neck, relays Ok Diario.

The national police arrested the municipal police officer as the alleged perpetrator of negligent homicide. An investigation has been opened to shed light on this incident. The investigators of the judicial police of Madrid took the statement of the arrested municipal police officer and collected the statements of the witnesses. The other retired police officer was also heard as a witness.

The autopsy to be performed in the coming days will determine whether the victim died from suffocation or strangulation and whether he had pathologies that could have led to his death during the police immobilization. Sources close to the case indicate that the victim was addicted to drugs and known to the police and the justice system for violent thefts. The thirty-year-old had been released from prison in May and was arrested on June 5 for violence, before committing the theft of the municipal police officer’s phone.