The officers allegedly hit them in the head and face, pulled their hair and kicked them. Paweł, 18, and Stefan, 19, claim that they were beaten by the police officers who intervened against them. The incident allegedly took place at the police station in Krosno, where the young men were taken to sober up. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the officers. The case is also being investigated by the prosecutor's office.
It all started in the market square in Krosno late in the evening on July 31. Paweł (18) and Stefan (19) work in one of the restaurants located there, which belongs to the father of the younger teenager. Around 11 p.m. after work and closing the restaurant for guests, the 18- and 19-year-olds spent time together with a few friends. As they say, they drank “a bit of beer and wine” at that time. They were inside the restaurant and outside, in the adjacent garden.
As Paweł reports, at around 1 a.m., when he was in the garden, he was accosted by the owner of the bakery who lived next door. The man was said to have a grudge against the young people being too loud. An exchange of words was said to have taken place between him and the teenager. The raised voices of the man and his friend were heard by Stefan, who came out of the premises and – as he reports – “tried to calm the situation down”. At that point, the man allegedly knocked the lighter out of his hand.
There was supposedly an argument between the teenagers and the man, which resulted in the bakery owner calling the police. After a few minutes, two police cars pulled up to the premises with their lights flashing. Two policemen got out of one, and a policeman and a policewoman got out of the other. Paweł was the first to be arrested. – The police said I was aggressive and under the influence of drugs, but nothing like that happened – the 18-year-old assures.
The boy claims that during the arrest the police were aggressive towards him, Stefan stood up for his younger colleague. – I asked the officers why they were arresting him, since he had done nothing, and why they were behaving aggressively towards him, since he was not resisting. Then I heard that I should “don't be smart” or I would be arrested too – Stefan recounts. And that is what actually happened.
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Both were first taken to the medical centre in Krosno for tests, so that the doctor could check whether they could be held in the detention centre, and then to the police station. – On the way to the medical centre, the policemen continued to claim that we were under the influence of drugs and threatened us with blood tests, which I agreed to, because I had only had a little wine that evening – says Stefan.
Ultimately, the 18th and 19-year-olds did not have a blood test and were not breathalysed before being placed in the police detention centre. – The detained men did not consent to having their sobriety tested – informs Commissioner Paweł Buczyński, press officer of the Municipal Police Headquarters in Krosno.
“They beat me, pulled my hair, tried to rip out my earring”
About an hour after his arrest, Paweł was taken to the detention center. Then he was taken to a room where – as he claims – he was beaten by police officers. – They beat me with an open, straight, tense hand around my ears and eyes, pulled my hair, kicked me in the legs, tried to pull out my earring and called me names – the 18-year-old reports. All this supposedly lasted about five minutes. – After that, they gave me four blank tickets to sign, when I refused, they threatened that they would beat me again, so out of fear I signed. The boy was taken to a cell. – They told me to lie down and not move. After a while I fell asleep. I slept until 7. When I woke up, I was told that my father was waiting for me – he says.
After taking a breathalyzer test, Paweł was released from the detention center.
18-year-old's bruised ear Private archive
In a cell in a straitjacket and helmet
After being taken to the police station, Stefan was with the police officers who intervened against him. – Another police officer came and threatened me that I would have “bad papers”, he called me names and pushed me – the 19-year-old reports.
The officers, he adds, wanted to impose four tickets of 500 zlotys each on him. – For obstructing the police in their official duties, littering a public place, using vulgar words in a public place and disturbing the night's rest – Stefan specifies. – I refused to accept the tickets, then they “proposed” that I accept two tickets of five hundred zlotys, and later one for five hundred or eight hundred, but I did not agree to that either, because I had not done anything against the law.
The 19-year-old was locked up in the detention center. After some time, he heard Paweł's raised voice. – They beat him, he was shouting: “Ouch, leave me alone”. I started banging on the bars with whatever I had at hand to call the policemen, then the one who was taking my things for deposit came up to me and said that I would also “get f..ked up”. I kept banging, after about half an hour three policemen came: the same one who was there before, one with whom I had gone to the police station in the police car and one from the police car that was going with Paweł – Stefan reports. As he claims, the uniformed officers were supposed to take him to a room without cameras and beat him there. – First I got punched in the face with an open hand, then I was knocked to the ground and I was still being beaten, first by one, then several policemen. They beat me in the head, face, stomach, I was pinned to the ground with my knee, I was kicked. During the beating, I was hit in the nose by one of the policemen – with a shoe or a hand – I don't remember exactly, because I was dazed after the first blows. My nose started bleeding. After it was all over, one of the policemen wiped the blood off my nose, because I was not able to do it myself, they put a straitjacket and a helmet on me and took me to the cell – Stefan recounts.
A 19-year-old boy claims he was beaten by police officers who intervened against him. Private archive
After about two hours, the 19-year-old started knocking on the door for someone to come to him. “A policeman came to me and asked why I was wearing a straitjacket, I replied that I had been beaten by police officers. He said that I was calm, so the straitjacket could be taken off, and that's what happened. After another two hours, I was breathalysed and released from the detention centre,” says the 19-year-old. The officer who released him also allegedly instructed the boy on how to report the assault.
“Contusions, hematomas, swellings, hearing loss”
Both teenagers performed a medical examination.
In Paweł's case, the doctor diagnosed “a contusion and post-traumatic hematoma of the left auricle with a skin abrasion, moderate post-traumatic sensorineural hearing loss of the left ear, post-traumatic hematoma of the upper lower eyelid of the right eye, and post-traumatic hematoma and swelling of the right cheek.”
Stefan suffered from “head contusion, left lower eye contusion, post-traumatic swelling and hematoma of the upper and lower eyelid of the left eye, nose contusion, post-traumatic swelling and hematoma of the nose, ecchymoses on the left side of the neck, and contusion and hematoma of the left auricle”.
Paweł and Stefan filed a complaint about the police's actions. The case is also being looked into by the prosecutor's office.
“Detained for sobering up”
Commissioner Paweł Buczyński, press officer of the Municipal Police Headquarters in Krosno, answered our questions about the incident in the Krosno market square in writing via e-mail. We exchanged several e-mails on this matter.
As he told us, at approximately 1:30 a.m. on the night of July 31 to August 1, the officers were notified that a group of people were disturbing “public order” on the market square in Krosno.
“After arriving at the scene and determining the course of events, the police decided to detain two men aged 18 and 19 in order to sober them up. A complaint was filed on 1 August against the actions of the intervening officers, as a result of which explanatory activities are being conducted in this case,” said Commissioner Buczyński.
The complaint filed on August 1 concerned “excess of authority by the intervening officers.”
Under “special supervision”
The teenagers – as told to us by Buczyński – were staying in separate rooms, which are under constant monitoring. “The 19-year-old used the toilet twice, which is not under the surveillance of cameras” – we read in the message sent to us.
And further: “After returning from the toilet, the 19-year-old began to behave nervously, destroy the interior of the room he was in and showed self-aggressive behavior.”
The boy also allegedly did not respond to the issued commands, which is why “direct coercive measures were applied to him in the form of immobilizing holds and a straitjacket with a protective helmet”. Commander Buczyński also added that “due to the situation, the man was placed under special supervision”.
Police disciplinary proceedings
As the spokesman for the Krosno police told us, in connection with “the suspicion of failure to perform duties and exceeding authority” disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the two intervening police officers on September 9.
“The proceedings concern the violation of official discipline and professional ethics by police officers during an intervention on August 1, 2024. One of them has already been questioned, while the other has not yet been questioned. They are not currently suspended from performing their official duties,” we learned on September 18 from Commissioner Buczyński.
As the spokesman for the Krosno police explained, the allegations against the police officers concern irregularities in the scope of: “the manner of wearing uniforms by officers, the location of the body-worn camera during the intervention, the failure to inform the participants of the intervention about the fact of its recording, the lack of annotation in the official notebook about the fact of recording the intervention and the use of direct coercion, as well as the application of direct coercion measures to the brought in without a prior ineffective call to behave in accordance with the law”.
If the proceedings reveal that officers have committed irregularities, they may be given a warning, a reprimand, a warning about their insufficient fitness for service in the position they hold, assignment to a lower official position, reduction in rank, a warning about their insufficient fitness for service or dismissal from service.
The case is being investigated by the prosecutor's office
On September 19, the materials regarding the beating of an 18- and 19-year-old by Krosno policemen were submitted to the District Prosecutor's Office in Jasło. – An investigation is underway – said Katarzyna Skrudlik-Rączka, head of the Jasło prosecutor's office.
The verification procedure lasts 30 days. After reviewing the materials, the prosecutor will decide whether or not to initiate an investigation into the matter.
Paul's name has been changed at his request.
Main image source: Private archive