German police suffocated Croat Ante P. during arrest

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The death of 47-year-old Croat Ante P. in Mannheim was not from natural causes, autopsy findings have shown.

After a four-month investigation, it was determined that the death of 47-year-old Croat Ante P. in Mannheim was not from natural causes and that two police officers on duty that day were responsible, German media report.

The officers came on May 2 to arrest a mentally ill man, but he resisted during the arrest. Shortly afterward, Ante P. collapsed and had to be resuscitated, then was taken to the hospital, where he died, reports Dnevnik.hr.

Soon after, a video of the arrest appeared on social media showing one of the officers hitting the man on the ground several times in the face.

The family of the deceased Croat wanted the circumstances of the incident to be clarified and to find out what Ante P. died from. The police said it was an immediate use of force because the man allegedly fiercely resisted arrest.

However, the expert examination showed that the man did not die a natural death.

The state prosecutor stated that the report indicates the 47-year-old died from respiratory distress related to position and restraint combined with metabolic disorder and suffocation due to bleeding in the upper airways, that the officers suffocated the man while pressing him to the ground.