Lepel Resident: Policeman Beats My Teenage Son When Detaining Him

The mother says that the guy has a curved nasal septum, chips and cracks in his teeth, and hematomas.

A resident of Lepel claims that her son, a 17-year-old teenager, was beaten by a police officer during detention, writes tut.by.

The mother says that the guy has a curved nasal septum, chips and cracks in his teeth, and hematomas. After the detention, according to the woman, the minor was held at the police department for more than 8 hours without informing his parents and providing medical assistance. The family turned to the Investigatory Committee.

- My son Andrei (the names of the mother and the son have been changed for ethical reasons, but their personal data, as well as the name of the police officer are in the editorial office - note) graduated from high school this year, and went to study at a vocational school. On the night of August 20-21, my son and his friends were sitting on a bench in the courtyard of a residential buildings, talking. There were four or five people in the company — boys and girls. Among all, only Andrei was a minor. The guys were drinking Apparently, they began to talk louder. One of the house residents called the police. The car of the security department was sent to them. The brigade included a driver and one officer," says Sviatlana, the mother of the youngster.

Some teenagers, when they saw the police car, got scared and rushed to run. Andrei was among them.

- Several teenagers were running away but the policeman rushed in pursuit of my son. Andrei ran 200-300 meters and was hit in the back. My son fell, hit his head against the asphalt, the police officer sat on top of him, twisted his arms and began to beat in the ribs. At the same time, the policeman repeated: “This is for the pants!”. He used obscene language when talking to him. Later it turned out that the officer, when running after my son, stumbled and tore his uniform pants on the knee. Then he led Andrei to the car - twisting his arm, and along the way, according to my son, continued to beat him in the ribs. Andrei said that he did not show any resistance, he said that he would go himself and that he was in pain.

The other guys from the company were also detained. They, as Sviatlana says, were not beaten.

Further events developed as follows. At 4 a.m. Andrei was brought for a medical examination. There was 1.43 ppm of alcohol in the guy's blood, according to his mother.

- However, the examination was carried out in violation: the son was given a “breathing tube” only once. Although after a certain time it should have been given again.

At about 5 a.m. the young man was taken to the police station.

- They closed him in a room and held him there alone until 10 a.m. As they later explained, they waited for Andrei to sober up to take evidence from him. Neither parents nor teachers were notified. Andrei sat in this room for five hours. He said, he knocked on the door, asked for medical help, but no one ever came up to him, didn’t even give water, didn’t ask: "Are you alive?" Maybe the child had a concussion, maybe a hemorrhage - no one asked such questions, - says the mother.

At 10 o’clock Andrei was taken for interrogation. At about 12 at noon that the teenager was in the police department, the police informed his school social educator.

"And only from her did I find out where my son is."

The social educator herself called Andrei an ambulance and went with him to the hospital. When I arrived there myself, I saw my son in a terrible state: his face, lips were battered, all clothes covered with blood. Andrei was all pale, he felt bad.

The beatings, according to Sviatlana, were recorded on the third day:

- To record the injuries, I had to go to another city - since our forensic expert was on vacation. Now we need to wait for a month for the results of the examination. The security officer, to whom we have complaints, claims that Andrei received these injuries himself: they say, he was running and fell. The policeman himself also recorded injuries - referring to his knee, which he allegedly damaged during the pursuit of my son.

With regard to the beating of her son, Sviatlana wrote a statement to the district department of the Investigatory Committee.

-In the statement, I pointed out all the violations committed by the law enforcement officers - that the parents were not informed that their minor son was taken to the police, that he was there from 4 a.m. to 12 p.m. Now there is a check going on, - says Sviatlana.

The mother hopes that they will deal with this situation objectively:

- The ill-treatment of people by the police should not be the norm in a society. Even if my son was drunk at the time, why detaining him as if he was a recidivist and beat him up? The feeble teenager a priori could not resist the trained fighter.

Aksana Lazko, the official representative of the Investigatory Committee department in the Vitsebsk region, said that on August 21, a 17-year-old youth had really applied to the Lepel district department of the Investigatory Committee with a statement about the violation of his rights and legitimate interests.

The investigation previously established that the teenager, at 3.25, being in a state of intoxication, while in the company of friends, saw police officers approaching them. Wanting to avoid communication with them, he rushed to run.

According to the young man, the policeman overtook him and used physical force against him.

Subsequently, the teenager explained his running away by the fact that he is registered with the juvenile inspection for drinking alcohol, and was not ready for another conversation with the police and juvenile inspector.

According to the results of the medical check, said the representative of the IC, there was about 1.6 ppm of alcohol in the teenager's blood.

According to the statements of the young man and his mother, investigators of the Lepel regional department of the IC are establishing all the circumstances of the incident.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Volha Chamadanava said that "the teenager’s mother didn’t turn to the police with a complaint about the actions of the law-enforcement officials."