THE HAGUE--Aruban holidaymaker Mitch Henriquez died because of the level of violence used by the police during his arrest, RTL news quoted the police report into his killing as saying.
A pathologist quoted in the report said there is no other explanation for his death, the Dutch commercial broadcaster said.
The police file has been handed to the Prosecutor’s Office this week. The investigators said that the pressure on his throat, resulting from the strangulation effect of the choke hold, was the “probable cause” of Henriquez’s suffocation and eventual death. The punches to his nose also had a contributory effect, the report stated. There is no other explanation of how the man came to die, the pathologist said.
The victim’s lawyer, Gerald Roethof, told a television talk show on Thursday evening Henriquez had a fractured larynx and contusions to his temple, nose and genital area. Roethof said in talk show Pauw he had seen the initial police report which shows Henriquez was “severely abused” during the arrest.
As well as the bruising and fractured larynx he also had two broken ribs, but these may have been caused when officers tried to revive him, Roethof said.
The report also lists several reasons, including public drunkenness, breach of the peace and threatening behaviour, for the arrest of Henriquez.
The 42-year-old man died after being thrown to the ground and bundled, apparently unconscious, into a police van after an open air concert by UB40.
The police originally claimed Henriquez had become unwell in a police car but retracted that statement after video footage showing him being held in a choke hold and dragged into the van was placed online. Five police officers face charges in connection with the death.
Violence by police led to Mitch Henriquez’s death
