Eyewitnesses have come forward claiming that police officers who made an arrest at Hvaleyrarholt in Hafnarfjörður assaulted the detainee, Vísir reports.
The witnesses claim that one of the four police officers involved repeatedly hit the man that they were arresting with a baton. The detainee allegedly then lost consciousness, but the officers continued to hit him in the head. The strict rules around the use of batons dictates that blows cannot be made directly to the head and that no more injuries should be caused than is necessary to subdue a suspect during an arrrest.
The station manager at Hafnarfjörður has confirmed that there was a conflict between a man and officers when they stopped him on suspicion of carrying drugs. The man told the officers that he had COVID-19 and the police had to call out a specially equipped car to transport the suspect to the station. It was whilst they were waiting for the car to arrive that the conflict started.
Witnesses all agree that the man was bleeding from his head and was unconscious for a long time, lying in a pool of blood.
The Committee for the Supervision of the Police confirms that it received complaints in connection to the arrest, and the matter has been referred to the State Prosecutor. No further comments have been made.
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