An excessively aggressive police officer who was seen on a video circulating the internet hurting and handcuffing a woman in violent fashion is being charged for inciting the incident and abuse of position.
Officer Tiefenbach from the Bratislava force is being held in custody after an investigation was launched, with other testimonies against his unusual practices also popping up on the internet after the video, filmed by the victim’s daughter, went viral. The Regional Court in Bratislava has ruled to keep Tiefenbach in custody after rejecting his appeal.
Tiefenbach, who is into martial arts, is being charged with abuse of public position and violation of personal freedom and could face between 3 to 8 years behind bars. The courts ruled that after getting the driver to the boot he started shouting vulgarities and infringing on the woman, before getting her neck in a tight arm lock as she screamed for help. The terrified woman and daughter were taken to the police station. The woman is now claiming compensation for her injuries.
The viral video quite clearly shows the woman be abusive and obstructive to the officer and then resisting arrest.
In my opinion the two officers did nothing wrong other than the method of restraint. An arm or wrist lock would have quickly put her into submission – if the officers are not trained to perform such restraints that is not their fault.
The woman should thank her lucky stars – similar behaviour in the States and she would have been Maced, Tasered or even shot! Public abuse of the police is common place here, why I don’t know. The woman should reflect on whether, if she had been polite and compliant, this incident would have happened. Prosecuting this officer is just going to make things worse, the police will receive even less respect and may be deterred from performing their duty because of the fear that some lout does not like being manhandled.
From what i have seen, i happen to agree there too.
We don’t know what led up to the beginning of the arrest.
Was she mouthing off provocatively?
I think ‘brutal’ is overdoing it.
A bit heavy-handed perhaps but we don’t know the whole story.