Poznań. The police fired 17 shots at the man. On a daily basis, they are dog guides in the prevention department

The event took place at the beginning of June 2021 on Gorzysława Street in Antonik in Poznań. We informed about the case on tvn24.pl. On Corpus Christi, in the morning, police officers received information from local residents that a bloody man was walking the streets. A police patrol was sent to the spot. As “Gazeta Wyborcza” reported, on the same day a woman reported the disappearance of her 36-year-old son suffering from schizophrenia. The radio correspondence records show that the police officers driving to the scene in a silver, unmarked van were aware that their intervention could concern this man.

The course of further events was recorded by three cameras “observing” the same place from three different perspectives – a fragment of the street and a parking lot belonging to one of the car dealerships. First there was 36-year-old Łukasz. Shortly afterwards, while driving down Gorzysława Street, officers noticed a man kneeling by a power pole. They stopped a bit further. Three policemen got out of the car and started to approach the 36-year-old. The fourth policeman stayed behind the wheel. As noted by the author of the text in “Gazeta Wyborcza”, the journalist from Poznań, Piotr Żytnicki, after several dozen seconds, one of the policemen pulled a gun from the holster and started aiming at Łukasz. Then the others did the same. – We can’t hear what happened there because the recordings are without sound. According to police reports, the man was shouting that he had a knife and would “take them all to God”. You can see in this video, and it’s indisputable, that for the next six minutes, nothing really happens. The situation is more lazy than dynamic, police chase away pedestrians, talk to a security guard. They wonder what to do, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. At that time, none of the policemen came up with the idea to return to the police car and take the service batons that they had left there, and the dogs that were also in the police car, which could help incapacitating the patient, if necessary, were not taken, reports Żytnicki . After those six minutes, the crucial moment came. The 36-year-old got up and ran towards the policeman. Then shots began to be fired. In the next seconds, a total of 17 were fired, five of which hit the man. For the next few minutes, the policemen are afraid to approach Łukasz, who needs medical help. He was overpowered only by another patrol with a taser.

The 36-year-old man was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. He underwent surgery. The prosecutor’s office began to investigate the actions of the policemen. – After presenting the charges, these police officers were suspended by the commander, but after analyzing the documents provided to us by the prosecutor’s office, there was no need to suspend them further and the officers returned to service – said junior insp. Andrzej Borowiak, spokesman for the Greater Poland Police. Borowiak confirmed the information that the officers are dog guides. – These police officers are dog guides in the riot squad dealing with securing gatherings, including football matches. Their seniority in the police is about 10 years. We are now waiting for the court to decide the case, the spokesman said. Prosecutor Ewa Antonowicz from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Zielona Góra announced that the indictment in the case of three policemen was sent to the District Court in Poznań in December 2022. The first hearing is scheduled for March 21. According to the prosecutor’s office, the men unjustifiably used a means of direct coercion in the form of firearms. All three were charged with abuse of power, one with causing a truly life-threatening disease, and the other two with bodily harm.

The intervention of the officers was commented on by the former city police chief in Poznań, Maciej Szuba. – I watched what was captured on the monitoring, I tried to understand the thinking of the policemen who undertook this intervention and I could not get to the bottom of it. They had no idea how to overpower a person without using firearms, especially since they had a big advantage, there were at least three to one – comments Maciej Szuba. He adds that the 39-year-old could have been overpowered otherwise, without the use of firearms. – There was certainly no training and experience in such everyday interventions, because with such an advantage, they should have no problem to deal with this intervention quickly, efficiently, without using weapons. Because in this case, its use – I will not say that it was justified – I think it was exaggerated – the former city police chief in Poznań told the TVN24 journalist.