Almost three weeks after the fatal knife attack on Mannheim’s market square, the public prosecutor’s office is investigating six complaints against police officers deployed. The complaints were filed by bystanders, said a spokeswoman for the Mannheim public prosecutor’s office. They were presumably based on video footage of the incident on the Internet. She did not comment on any specific allegations.
In response to videos on the Internet, some people on social networks accused the police of, among other things, hesitant behavior and haphazard action during the attack. The German Police Union warned against jumping to conclusions.
On May 31, a 25-year-old Afghan injured five participants in a rally by the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa (BPE) and a police officer with a knife on Mannheim’s market square. The 29-year-old officer, Rouven Laur, later died of his injuries. Another officer shot the attacker. He was subsequently operated on and could not be questioned at first. The man was still in a coma on Wednesday, police sources said.
The Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office is also investigating the police officer who fired the shot, a spokeswoman for the authority confirmed. This is common practice in cases involving the use of firearms. According to the Mannheim public prosecutor’s office, the six charges are not directed against the shooter.
The regional head of the German Police Union, Ralf Kusterer, said: “Of course there is always criticism in operational situations about the intervention or non-intervention of police colleagues. (…) But I would also warn against trying to judge from video recordings or video recordings whether someone behaved incorrectly.” The truth is often different from what is shown on a video. “One must not forget, even in this situation in Mannheim, the dynamics of this procedure, these processes.”
However, Kusterer sees a general need to catch up in the area of training and further education – and calls for a quality offensive within the police force in the country. “Basically, we have deficits in the area of training and further education, and we obviously need to focus more on that, especially after Mannheim.”
The Mannheim police did not initially comment on the question of possible disciplinary proceedings against police officers following the knife attack. In general, disciplinary proceedings against officers are suspended during possible public prosecutor’s investigations and only resumed after these have been concluded.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office took over the investigation against the attacker a few days after the crime. They assume that the crime was motivated by religion. The accused resorted to massive violence, presumably to prevent criticism of Islam, said Federal Prosecutor General Jens Rommel on Tuesday.
