Lawyers of the family of man killed after being tasered on the Costa claim that 'excessive use of force' by police led to his death

Request for a second autopsy

Despite the fact that the final report from the first examination — the one that will clarify the specific cause of death — has not yet been submitted and is still awaiting the results of the chemical analyses, lawyer Tejada explained that “normally bodies are buried long before the results of the first examination are issued” and that “as a precaution, a second one is usually requested".

The brother of the deceased Naser Mejri, who also spoke during the press conference on behalf of his family after viewing the recording, stated that, in his opinion, "certain points that have been publicly disseminated are ruled out, in particular, an alleged robbery, the use of scissors as a risk element and the existence of violence against the officers".

"No attempt of aggression towards the intervening officers was observed"

With this in mind, he said that it can be seen how the "money remains visible and within reach at all times without being stolen", that "the round-tipped stationery scissors were already inside the call shop for the establishment's own use and were immediately released when the officer required them", and that "no attempt at aggression towards the intervening officers was observed".

"After this viewing, it is difficult to maintain confidence in certain institutions that have forced themselves to convey to public opinion a version of the facts that is significantly different from those reflected in the images now known," continued Naser. He also called for a "public retraction" from the institutions and associations that have stated that "it was a robbery, that the deceased acted aggressively or that have spread comments regarding his alleged personal background" in a show of "respect".

The lawyers, for their part, have stated that they expect “the truth to be known in its entirety”, although they have not shown the security camera recording from the phone shop to the media, arguing that the investigation is “confidential”.

The municipal spokesman for the Con Málaga group, Nicolás Sguiglia, also attended the meeting to demand justice for Haitam, said: "There are legal proceedings under way and so we have to be very cautious about what is being said, but it seems clear that there has been a clear disproportionate use of force by the officers who intervened and malpractice."

Chronology of events, according to witness videos and police sources

It should be recalled that the images of the police action to which SUR has had access, collected by witnesses and disseminated on social networks, show how the deceased was positioned behind the counter of the premises, holding two mobile phones (apparently without weapons). He shows no signs of aggression, but ignores police instructions.

Police sources close to the case stated that the individual confronted the officers by “throwing objects” at them from inside the phone shop and “striking” others. Initially, a 'zeta' (the term used for National Police radio patrol vehicles) was dispatched to the scene and attempted to restrain the individual, but without success. As a result, two additional units were called in, bringing four more officers. According to the same sources, the officers continued trying to put handcuffs on him to restrain him while he was “moving about, shouting and kicking out”.

It was then that one of the officers reportedly used his taser a first time on the man's leg, which apparently had no effect on him. The police officers tackled the man to the ground, where the struggle continued and two more taser shots were fired by another officer until the man was handcuffed. The 061 health emergency services, according to the police version, had already been alerted by the officers so that an ambulance could come to the scene and give the man some medication to calm him down. However, on arrival, he was no longer responding to stimuli.

The man suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest and, despite the fact that both the officers and the medical staff performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), he died on the spot. As a result, the forensic police and the judicial committee - formed by a duty judge, the lawyer of the administration of justice and a forensic expert - was activated to proceed with the removal of the body and its subsequent transfer to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Malaga (IML) for an autopsy to be performed. For the moment, the cause of death is unknown and it is the court of instruction number 4 of Torremolinos which is in charge of the investigation to clarify what happened.