Policeman accused of violence in court: – So no other way out but to hit

– Right then and there I thought “how good there is surveillance that shows what has happened”, explains the police officer accused of violence in court.

The minutes showing the disputed arrest at Kongsberg on the night of 30 October 2022 were shown in the Borgarting Court of Appeal on Tuesday.

– It was incredibly chaotic. I encountered resistance that was more violent and lasted longer than anything I have experienced before, says the policeman.

Even when the appeal starts, he denies being guilty of gross violence against two young men and grossly negligent breach of duty.

He largely bases his explanation on the video recording from the petrol station.

– The stress has taken part of the memory, unfortunately.

The pubs had closed on Kongsberg. A group of friends who had been out on the town go to Esso to get a ride home. There are also two police patrols.

A watchman will speak to the police on the spot about his perception that Kevin Winnes Simensen (27) had threatened to kill him with a gesture of his hand.

When Simensen and his mate confront the guard, the accused policeman intervenes. He perceived the atmosphere as aggressive and oppressive.

The policeman secures a contact grip on Simensen’s arm, but the 27-year-old breaks free. The policeman wants to put him on the ground, but both fall.

– I am exposed to violent resistance and think I am about to lose control. I feel fear that I could get hurt, explains the defendant.

He thinks that it will take too long to draw pepper spray or a baton.

– I start punching him in the nose and ear to get him out of the game and make him surrender. But none of the blows have any effect.

WATCH VIDEO: This is what the policeman’s defender says

The policeman first describes a series of blows to the head and face, then another.

He empties the can of pepper spray in Simensen’s face. He pulls the telescoping baton and hits the thigh, hits the arm.

But Simensen resists, he refuses to give up.

– I fear that I would be exposed to serious injury and saw no other way out than to hit his head with a baton, explains the defendant.

Prosecutor Marit Oliver Storeng asks what the consequences of a blow to the head can be.

– It is a serious injury. I understand that it could potentially be fatal. But it was more dangerous for me not to strike that blow than to strike it.

– You hadn’t seen his hands, only that he was coming towards you. What do you think about the proportionality of baton blows to the head?

– It’s good inside. All the pain I tried to inflict on him has not worked. He wanted to attack me. I had to ensure that I was not seriously injured, replies the defendant.

He strikes Simensen’s back several times and screams for him to lie still.

Simensen’s mate Kristian Pablo Teigen (27) arrives.

– I see an aggressive man with threatening body language and hit him with the baton, because I fear he will interfere with the arrest, says the defendant.

Teigen stood for parts of the situation with her hands in the air.

– It is not enough. He was ordered to pull away, not to stand with his hands in the air, says the defendant in court.

He punched Teigen twice in the thigh with full force.

After several minutes of struggle, the police put handcuffs and ankle straps on Simensen.

– If someone had got on his feet before my second punch sequence, we would have been able to control him much earlier, says the policeman in court.

He believes that the police officers on the scene were not coordinated well enough.

– I felt I was working without sufficient assistance from colleagues. I didn’t feel like they arrived quickly enough or were there to help me.

The policeman also believes – after carefully studying the video footage – that he may have been hit on the forehead by the victim before he started hitting himself.

His defender John Christian Elden believes that the core of the case is whether the defendant’s use of force goes beyond what is justifiable.

– The case is about a police officer on duty, who thinks he is acting for the best and doing his job, says Elden in court.

The policeman was acquitted in the Buskerud District Court, but the Attorney General appealed.

Head of prosecution investigations at the Bureau of Police Affairs, Marit Oliver Storeng, is also a prosecutor in the Court of Appeal:

– The question is whether it was necessary, proportionate and justifiable to use such force, or whether the assignment could have been handled in a different way.

Storeng reminds that the use of force is strictly regulated in the Police Act. The core is always to try the least intrusive means possible before physical force is used.

– The court must start from the policeman’s options for action and understanding of the situation, points out the prosecutor.

She adds that it is also not automatic that illegal use of force should be punished, when the practitioner is a police officer on duty.

– The Supreme Court has given the police leeway to make mistakes in demanding operational situations, without them being held criminally responsible afterwards.

The acquittal in the Buskerud district court was not unanimous:

The majority came under “some doubt” that the use of force was justifiable, compared to the “massive resistance” described by the defendant and his colleague.

The minority believed that less invasive measures should have been tried first.