The police violence case, Police | The prosecutor to the accused policeman: – Was the plan to beat him until he lay still?

– I experienced resistance that was violent and more violent than I have ever experienced before, said the policeman when he began his free statement during the first day of the appeal case in the Borgarting Court of Appeal on Tuesday.

– I hit several times, but none of the blows have an effect on Simensen, says the policeman.

The Bureau of Police Affairs has brought charges against the man for two cases of serious 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 baton.

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

The policeman denies criminal guilt and was acquitted last summer during a dissent in Buskerud district court.

Also read: Where is the police management in cases where employees need support?

Escalation at gas station

The incident happened at an Esso station in Kongsberg on the night of 30 October 2022, and much of what happened was captured by a surveillance camera at the petrol station.

It arose after a security guard who had thrown Simensen out of a nightclub felt threatened by Simensen and approached the police at the Esso station. Siemens arrived a few seconds later.

The policeman grabbed Simensen’s arm, but when the offended man pulled his arm to him, the policeman put him on the ground by clamping his legs. The policeman also fell to the ground during the shutdown. However, Simensen tried to stand up again, and the policeman then started hitting his head with his fists with full force. During the chaotic situation, the police officer also used pepper spray and a baton against his body and head.

He nevertheless experienced that neither the pepper spray nor the baton had any effect, and that Simensen continued to resist despite the fact that he was both inflicted with pain and given verbal orders to lie still.

He also says that he received a punch from Simensen on the ground before he himself started punching, but that he only became aware of the punch after the incident, when he discovered a bloody mark and a small swelling above his left eye.

Prosecutor: – Was the plan to beat him until he lay still?

In his questioning of the accused, the prosecutor, head of prosecution investigation Marit Oliver Storeng from the Bureau, pointed out that the policeman hit Simensen 13 times on the head, before he was interrupted by a friend of Simensen’s.

After that, the policeman sprayed an entire can of pepper spray in Simensen’s face, before delivering another round of about four punches.

– How could you see the impact of the blows when the frequency was so fast, asks the prosecutor.

– That is when the effect I want has been achieved. I had not achieved the effect, and therefore I continued to hit, says the policeman.

– Was the plan to beat him until he lay still, asks the prosecutor a little later.

– I can’t say that. Perhaps he could have screamed in pain to indicate that he would surrender, or have done something else.

– Within the legal use of force

The policeman also says that he felt that he initially did not receive sufficient assistance in the situation from his police colleagues who were on the scene.

– The success criterion for gaining control of Simensen was enough people and that we were coordinated in the arrest, he says.

– If we had been more coordinated, the situation would probably have been different, says the policeman.

The baton blows against Kristian Teigen came in connection with the fact that the policeman felt that Teigen was aggressive and interfered in the arrest of Simensen, and that he did not withdraw when he was ordered to do so.

– The blows were delivered with full force, in line with what we are trained for. We learn that we should hit with full force, and against large muscle groups, otherwise we should not hit at all, says the policeman.

He was suspended in May last year after the charges were intensified, and is still suspended pending a final decision on the case.

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.

Believes the matter could have been resolved through dialogue

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 policeman.

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

Prosecutor Storeng emphasizes to NTB that the situation was initially a verbal conflict. She reacts in particular to the fact that very little time passed from the time the policeman made contact with Simensen until he started hitting.

– The public prosecutor’s office believes that the situation could have been resolved first in the form of dialogue. Once physical force was used, we believe that it could have been solved with more ordinary arrest techniques instead of using force such as blows, pepper spray and batons, says Storeng.