Pedro Corona’s lawyer has evidence of brutal police violence: the victim tried to de-escalate but suffered a heart attack while restrained and pinned down with knees.

“Why should I come out? Why do I have to open the door? Can you please answer me before you use force?”, Pedro Corona asked repeatedly, nervously but politely, through the closed door of his one-room flat in the German city Cologne-Deutz on 8 April. Outside stood police officers and accompanying fire brigade paramedics, who had been called by friends – Corona was in the midst of a psychiatric crisis.

The 30-year-old care worker eventually did open the front door, as a video that has now surfaced proves. “Why? Why? But why? Please, why? Sorry, help! Help! Violence!” are, according to the audio track, Corona’s last words before officers overpowered him. He is now in a coma.

Corona, who was born in Venezuela, had filmed the scene in the stairwell through the door’s peephole on his mobile phone, and his efforts to de-escalate the situation can also be heard on the recording. The device had been confiscated by police after the incident and was only handed over to lawyer Simón Barrera González now, after weeks of requests. Supporters managed to unlock the phone – and found the video evidence, which exposes the police account as one-sided.

Full dose of restraint and sedative

As far as is known, Corona had locked himself in his flat. The doctor accompanying the paramedics wanted to have him admitted to a psychiatric hospital and called the police for support. The officers did not hold back on coercive measures: after bringing Corona to the ground at his front door, he was restrained with handcuffs and cable ties at his hands and feet, and – because he had allegedly resisted the police violence – spit hoods were pulled over his head.

The emergency doctor administered a sedative through his nose – the maximum dose, his lawyer reports.

After more than an hour, six police officers carried Corona face down the stairs in a carrying sheet and then restrained him – also lying on his stomach – to a stretcher for at least 20 minutes. This additional restraint with straps was “extreme”, Barrera González explains.

Heart attack after forced prone position

An hour and a half after the operation began, Corona suffered a severe heart attack while in this forced position and had to be resuscitated on the stretcher. Beforehand, however, the keys for the handcuffs reportedly had to be searched for. At Cologne University Hospital, Corona was eventually placed in an induced coma.

Doctors suspect the cause of the heart attack was insufficient oxygen supply resulting from the restraint measures. The investigation files now available support this theory.

Because of just such a life-threatening combination of restraints, nine police officers from a station in Mülheim an der Ruhr are currently on trial for joint dangerous assault while in office in a separate case: they may have caused the death of Ibrahima Barry in this way two years ago. The young refugee from Guinea also died from a combination of hypoxia and heart attack while forcibly held face down.

Restrained and pinned down by two police knees

In the current case in Cologne-Deutz, officers even applied pressure to Corona while he was restrained face down, the lawyer reports, citing footage from police body cameras. According to this, two officers knelt on Corona’s upper back “simultaneously, one from the left, one from the right”, says Barrera González.

Police present the entire sequence of events differently. “In his flat, he violently resisted officers and bit a 24-year-old policewoman”, according to a press release from Cologne Police Headquarters. Corona had also been told about the operation through the closed door beforehand, the files state. However, he had only screamed and was completely confused. The care worker had “completely resisted” police holds, “tensing all his muscles”. This is why further force allegedly had to be used.

Corona reportedly spat blood – due to police mistreatment, Barrera González suspects. In this situation, police allegedly put a second spit hood on him, considerably increasing the risk of suffocation, according to the lawyer. Corona’s vital signs were also not continuously monitored, he says. Only when he gradually fell silent was a pulse monitor attached to him.

jokes about HIV infection

Meanwhile, a policewoman reportedly spoke about him in a demeaning manner. “Pedro was called a ‘retard’, jokes were made about HIV, and it was suggested that his hair be shaved off”, says Barrera González.

The fact that Corona, as a gay man, is living with HIV had reportedly already been communicated by his friends to the control centre in their emergency call. According to his lawyer, the later victim himself also drew the police’s attention to this and explained that he was taking the relevant medication and was therefore below the transmission threshold.

Nevertheless, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and police attempted to use the HIV diagnosis to justify the brutal operation. Barrera González sees a method in this: the narrative of a “dangerous drug-addicted migrant” is meant to generate understanding for the police violence. “It structurally exploits racist resentments.”

Prosecutor sees no grounds for investigation against police

Pedro Corona has been in what is known as a persistent vegetative state since the operation and, although his eyes have opened, he is not conscious. According to relatives and supporters, he has already sustained severe brain damage. To care for him, his mother and cousin have travelled to Germany from Venezuela. Supporters have launched a petition to help cover the high costs of flights, accommodation, medical support and the necessary legal representation.

Bonn Police are now investigating their colleagues in Cologne – such a practice is customary “for reasons of neutrality”. Cologne’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has so far seen no grounds to open an investigation against the officers involved, but says it will gather further information following posts by Barrera González on Instagram. The lawyer criticises the long delay as protection of the perpetrators: the body camera footage alone, he says, is more than telling. Corona’s body was also reportedly covered in bruises – which, according to experts, cannot be attributed to the resuscitation that took place.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office must stop publicly acting as the patron saint of the police while discrediting Pedro,” Barrera González demands. As in other cases, he says, the judiciary must not rely solely on questioning the officers involved. “All we want is an objective investigation,” the lawyer tells “nd”.

Published in German in „nd“.

Image: Pedro Corona.