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Austrian cop convicted of attacking US teacher
Source: Agencies |
January 12, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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A JUDGE yesterday convicted an undercover Austrian police officer of attacking an American teacher after mistaking him for an African drug dealer and ordered him to pay a 2,800 euro (US$3,620) fine.
Mike Brennan, a former football player from Jacksonville, Florida, suffered injuries to his back, head, neck, hand and wrist during the February 11, 2009, incident in a subway station in Vienna, the Austrian capital. The officer, who pleaded not guilty, had faced up to three years in prison.
The Vienna police department has said the officer who was charged - and another who wasn't - mistook Brennan for a drug dealer of "almost identical" appearance and acknowledged they used force and injured him.
Brennan claims the accused officer didn't identify himself before knocking him down on the platform and punching him. The officer, who cannot be named under Austrian law, disputed he hit Brennan.
Judge Patrick Aulebauer found that the attack did not amount to battery but that the officer behaved negligently.
"To a certain extent it's understandable that it came to this mix-up and that you thought Mr Brennan was the one you're supposed to arrest," Aulebauer told the officer. "But that doesn't mean this mix-up could not have been avoided."
Brennan said he was "not happy" with the sentence and that he would talk to his lawyer, Wilfried Embacher, about possibly suing for damages.
"I still have to deal with the physical and mental pain and that's nothing compared to what his sentence is, it doesn't equal that at all," Brennan said.
Mike Brennan, a former football player from Jacksonville, Florida, suffered injuries to his back, head, neck, hand and wrist during the February 11, 2009, incident in a subway station in Vienna, the Austrian capital. The officer, who pleaded not guilty, had faced up to three years in prison.
The Vienna police department has said the officer who was charged - and another who wasn't - mistook Brennan for a drug dealer of "almost identical" appearance and acknowledged they used force and injured him.
Brennan claims the accused officer didn't identify himself before knocking him down on the platform and punching him. The officer, who cannot be named under Austrian law, disputed he hit Brennan.
Judge Patrick Aulebauer found that the attack did not amount to battery but that the officer behaved negligently.
"To a certain extent it's understandable that it came to this mix-up and that you thought Mr Brennan was the one you're supposed to arrest," Aulebauer told the officer. "But that doesn't mean this mix-up could not have been avoided."
Brennan said he was "not happy" with the sentence and that he would talk to his lawyer, Wilfried Embacher, about possibly suing for damages.
"I still have to deal with the physical and mental pain and that's nothing compared to what his sentence is, it doesn't equal that at all," Brennan said.
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