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Düsseldorf / Cologne (dpa / lnw) - The Düsseldorf public prosecutor has closed the case against four police officers who were accused of unlawful use of force against a 15-year-old young person who was rampaging in the old town of Düsseldorf.
This was reported by the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” (Saturday edition) on Friday, citing Düsseldorf public prosecutor Laura Hollmann.
The case made headlines nationwide in August 2020 through a video of the arrest on the net.
During the operation, the 15-year-old was "fixed on the head" by an officer by kneeling on him.
The situation was filmed by a witness and posted on the Internet.
The short video had spread rapidly and reminded some of the death of the American George Floyd.
In the Floyd case, however, the US policeman kneeled on the man's neck - which policemen are forbidden in Germany.
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) had also said that he was initially "scared".
According to a preliminary assessment by the responsible state police office for training, the deployment was flawless: It corresponds to the permissible techniques taught in the training, Reul had said a few days after it became known in the interior committee of the state parliament.
The incident was also the occasion for a demonstration in Düsseldorf against police violence around a week after the incident.
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According to earlier information from the police, the youth is said to have disrupted a police operation against rioters in the old town and physically attacked an officer.
He had been noticed by the police several times in the past for acts of violence and other offenses.
The four officers had been investigated because of the initial suspicion of bodily harm in the office.
"The investigations have shown that an illegal, disproportionate use of force by the accused officials could not be determined," said Hollmann of the German press agency.
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