An off-duty police officer is under investigation in Spain after allegedly choking a suspected thief to death while restraining him in a Madrid suburb, a case reminiscent of the George Floyd murder in the US.
A Madrid municipal police officer chased and caught the man who had allegedly stolen his phone overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, in Torrejón de Ardoz, just east of the Spanish capital, a National Police spokeswoman said.
Video footage published by Spanish media shows the officer, dressed in plain clothes, pinning the man to the ground with his arm around the suspect’s neck as he waits for on-duty police to arrive.
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Several bystanders can be heard pleading with the officer to release his grip.
“You’re going to suffocate the guy, man. Let go of his neck,” one person shouts.
Another can be heard saying: “He’s not going to run away. Just let him go.”
When National Police officers arrived, the suspect was unresponsive. Emergency services were called but were unable to revive him.
Emergency services confirmed on social network X that a 36-year-old man had died of asphyxiation in Torrejón de Ardoz after 30 minutes of attempted resuscitation failed to reverse cardiac arrest.
Authorities said they were waiting for preliminary autopsy results to determine the exact cause of death.
The death has sparked outrage among left-wing groups in the Madrid region, governed by the conservative Popular Party.
The left-wing Mas Madrid party demanded an investigation into the “apparent asphyxiation killing by a police officer”.
“If confirmed, this would be a very serious case of racist police violence resulting in the death of a North African man,” the party added on X.
A local left-wing group has called for a protest in Torrejón on Saturday, describing the incident as a “racist killing at the hands of police”.
A judge on Thursday released the officer, who has not been named publicly, while he is investigated for negligent homicide, the Madrid High Court of Justice said.
The judge ordered the officer to turn in his passport and report to the authorities weekly.
