The three people who were arrested last Sunday by agents of the Local Police of Arrecife, in a controversial arrest that was recorded by several neighbors, have appeared this Tuesday at the disposal of the court and have been released provisionally, investigated for a possible crime of resistance or attack against agents of the authority, which will be resolved as the investigation progresses in Court Number 4 of Arrecife.
Meanwhile, the detainees are considering with their lawyers filing a complaint against the two police officers, for using violence against them. Specifically, the images show the agents hitting a man and pushing a woman, who was recording with her cell phone the arrest of the third person involved in the events, who was the driver of the vehicle in which they were traveling.
In the police report of the arrest, the agents maintain that they tried to stop the car for a possible driving under the influence of alcohol, and that the driver fled, even driving in the wrong direction in several streets. However, according to what La Voz has been told from the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, in principle there is no formal charge against him for crimes against road safety. Regarding driving under the influence of alcohol, the police report does not state that he was given a breathalyzer test.
In that report, the agents relate that they had previously identified these three people drinking on the terrace of a kiosk in Arrecife, since there were five people at the same table, when the current regulations in force in Lanzarote against Covid-19 allows a maximum of four. There, they affirm that they "disrespected" them, "laughing at them and saying: Now we are seven, not five. Go look for the little cars that are doing rallies and leave us alone".
After asking them and the kiosk manager for their details, informing them that they would be sanctioned, the agents claim that they left the place. However, "about 15 minutes later" they saw these people again in a vehicle on Fred Olsen Avenue, where they tried to stop them, based on the fact that they "showed obvious signs of intoxication in the previous intervention". Then, according to the report, they "fled at high speed" and a chase began through the streets of Arrecife, even driving "in the opposite direction".
Finally, the car stopped in Pedro Barba Street, where the events that have unleashed the controversy occurred. Initially, the agents arrested the driver, who they say got out of the car shouting and insulting them, with expressions such as "hit me, hit me, you are very men, faggots, come on, hit me", while asking his partner to record with the cell phone.
The police officers maintain that they then went to "intercept" him and that he tried to "attack" them "violently, making a fuss and throwing blows at the agents", until they finally reduced him to the ground "using the minimum force necessary".
It is at that moment when the video that has most questioned the intervention of the police officers begins, which is being investigated by the City Council. There, the driver is already seen handcuffed on the ground -who is the one who could have incurred in crimes against road safety, although for the moment it is not recorded that he is charged for it-, and his two companions observing the scene and her recording it with her cell phone.
In the report, the police officers allege that they gave her indications to stop recording, and that since she did not, one of them "hit the cell phone terminal" of the woman "to stop her attitude". In this regard, it should be remembered that the law does not prohibit recording police officers on public roads, and that the only thing that can be punished is the subsequent use of those images, if they put the agents or their families at risk.
From there, the account of the report differs in several aspects with what can be seen in the images recorded by the neighbors. In the video, after the strong blow that the agent gives to the cell phone throwing it to the ground, the man is indeed seen facing the police officer and raising his hand -according to them, he gave him a "strong slap on the cheek"-, but what is not seen is the subsequent "struggle" that the agents relate, nor that the police officer had to "separate from the aggression". In fact, what is seen is the man trying to get away from the agent, who follows him down the street giving him several blows until he reduces him to the ground.
It is there when the woman intervenes again, who does address the police officer raising her hand, but falls to the ground, where she receives two pushes from the agent when she was trying to get up. Seeing this, her companion turns to face the agent again, but he had already moved away when the scene of greater violence occurs. At that moment, the other police officer who was guarding the first detainee goes to the man and punches him, knocking him to the ground. According to the report, he was "semi-conscious, with his eyes open and bleeding from the head", so he had to be transferred by ambulance to the Molina Orosa Hospital, with a head trauma.
Afterwards, he tried to leave the center voluntarily, but was intercepted by the agents and taken along with the other two detainees to the National Police Station. Before, both the woman and the first arrested had also been transferred to the Valterra health center "to be assisted". For their part, the agents point out in the report that they also went later to the same health center to be treated for the "injuries" they suffered, although they point out that they will attach the medical report "later", and the report does not detail these "injuries".
In addition, the report also reported that they proceeded to identify one of the neighbors who was recording what happened from the balconies, and warned that others had also recorded videos and were spreading them on social networks.
To the agents who initially intervened, two others from the local police joined later, and a patrol of the National Police also went to the area, who was the one who finally took charge of the three detainees.
Now, after their appearance this Tuesday at the disposal of the court, the investigation will continue to clarify the facts and the three detainees will be summoned again to testify, in what could become a case with cross complaints and that could also lead the agents to appear in court
