Vestfossen, Eiker | The defender of the accused policeman: – Lawful use of force

– I do not admit guilt, said the policeman after the indictment against him had been read out in the Borgarting Court of Appeal a little after 9 o’clock on Tuesday.

Last summer, the policeman was acquitted during a dissent in the Buskerud district court of gross bodily harm and grossly negligent breach of duty after he beat Kevin Simensen with a clenched fist, sprayed him with pepper spray and hit him on the head and body with a telescopic baton.

He also hit Simensen’s mate Kristian Teigen twice in the thigh with a baton.

When the case went to the district court, prosecutor Marit Oliver Storeng from the Bureau asked for 60 days of unconditional imprisonment for the accused police officer.

The Attorney General chose to appeal the acquittal, in line with the Bureau’s recommendation.

– Within the legal use of force

The incident happened at an Esso station in Kongsberg on the night of 30 October 2022.

It arose after a security guard who had thrown Simensen out of a nightclub believed that Simensen had threatened to kill him, and approached the police at the petrol station. Shortly afterwards, Simensen followed.

The policeman grabbed Simensen’s arm, but when the aggrieved man pulled his arm away, the policeman put him on the ground. However, Simensen tried to get up again, and the policeman then started hitting with his fists and also used pepper spray and a baton.

The policeman’s defender, John Christian Elden, believes that the client’s use of force was within what the police are allowed to do.

– He was always within the legal use of force, says Elden in his introductory speech.

The prosecutor questions defense witnesses

In connection with the appeal, the prosecution has called in two new witnesses who were not present during the district court proceedings.

One is the man who runs the nightclub in Kongsberg from which Simensen was thrown out, while the other is a senior police officer who has experience in training in arrest techniques.

In his introductory speech, prosecutor Marit Oliver Storeng also questioned several of the defence’s witnesses, including police superintendent Arne Guddal, who also testified in the district court. Among other things, Guddal has taught arrest techniques, and has had access to the case documents.

– I would oppose him saying anything about the evidence and the legality of the defendant’s exercise of power. It is the subject he must explain himself about, and not the evidence in the case.

In the district court, Guddal also demonstrated with great force the use of a baton and a knife that Simensen was carrying during the incident, but which the policeman did not know about. The prosecutor said that she will also object to him demonstrating this in the district court.

– A demonstration of how these can hypothetically be used is not relevant, said Storeng.

Elden thought it would be entirely within the scope of using Guddal as an expert witness, and pointed out that the Bureau itself had called him in for questioning during the investigation, precisely to explain the use of force.

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