Policeman accused of beating a patient in the emergency room in Arendal

A police officer is accused of hitting a mentally ill patient in the face several times at the Arendal emergency room in January last year.

According to the indictment, the policeman was called in to assist with an outspoken, mentally ill, and severely alcoholic patient who was to be treated at the Arendal emergency room on the night of January 9 last year.

When the patient refused to lie down on a stretcher, the policeman allegedly pushed him down on the stretcher and hit him in the face several times.

“The blows resulted in a cut under the left eye and swelling around the left eye, bleeding sores in the mouth, and a scratch on the right side of the forehead,” the indictment says.

The police officer, who is in his 40s, is charged with aggravated assault and gross breach of duty.

Case details

The Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs, which has issued the indictment by order of the Attorney General, believes that the patient did not behave threateningly or dangerously in a way that made the blows necessary and justifiable.

In November, newspaper Agderposten wrote that the case was originally dropped by the head of the Bureau of Investigation, despite the fact that their own investigators recommended pressing charges.

However, the patient complained to the Attorney General, who asked the Bureau to issue an indictment.

The trial against the policeman starts on February 1 in Aust-Agder District Court. 

Four days have been set aside for the case.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today