Police chiefs: Officers used appropriate force in Teplice case

The force used by the police to restrain a Romany man in Teplice who later died was appropriate in view of the man’s attempts to struggle, representatives of the regional police command said on Thursday. The deputy regional police chief, Zbyněk Dvořák, said the officer who had kneeled on the man’s neck had repeatedly attempted to ease the hold; however, the man resisted fiercely and could have injured the policeman, Mr. Dvořák.

Meanwhile the police’s internal affairs unit said it had found no grounds for launching criminal proceedings over the matter.

The case has made international headlines, with comparisons between the Romany man’s death and that of George Floyd.

An autopsy found that the man, who died in an ambulance after Saturday’s incident, had succumbed to a drug overdose and that his death was not connected to the police’s actions.