Anniversary video | Mannheim police violence has no consequences - but only for the perpetrators

Eric Clifford Omoregie was on his way home from work at a nursing home on his e-scooter. This seemed suspicious to the police officers. Photo: YouTube Thursday marked the third anniversary of a police operation in Mannheim, in which the nursing specialist Eric Clifford Omoregie was pushed against a bridge railing by two officers on a bridge, forcefully brought to the ground, treated condescendingly and then taken into custody. The Nigerian was on his way home from work in a nursing home on his e-scooter.

Omoregie had filed a complaint against the officer. However, the Mannheim public prosecutor's office discontinued the proceedings and instead charged Omoregie. He was charged with resisting law enforcement officers, intentional bodily harm and assaulting one of the officers. The police stated that Omoregie had behaved “hysterically” and wanted to escape. Footage from city cameras from the bridge contradicts the description. It can be seen that he is standing there quietly when the police officer suddenly attacks.

At the end of January 2025, the district court acquitted Omoregie; the judge considered the police stop to be unlawful. The alleged acts of resistance, if they had taken place, would have been seen as self-defense against police violence. The incident had no consequences for the officer and a complaint against him was not pursued. As far as is known, no disciplinary measures were taken.

In response to nd's request, the public prosecutor's office stated that it had requested the verdict acquitting Omoregie and then checked whether the proceedings against the police officers, which had already been discontinued in October 2024 due to a lack of sufficient suspicion, would be resumed. This did not happen because it could still not be ruled out that the “use of direct coercion” was justified.

With the police officers' counter-complaint, the victim was turned into the perpetrator, criticizes Jordan Schwarz from "Leuchtlinie", a specialist and advice center for those affected by racist violence in the state of Baden-Württemberg, which supports the now 29-year-old Omoregie. The fact that it went public anyway deserves great respect. “There is therefore a need for independent complaints bodies and serious action against police violence and racial profiling, as black communities have been demanding for a long time,” says Schwarz.

The nurse, who was overwhelmed by the police, published a video message on Thursday and described how violent he experienced the operation. He was sober and told the officers that he was coming from work. Nevertheless, he should give a urine sample on site. "I already noticed that, yes, a black man alone on the bridge with two police officers, that wouldn't go well."

Omoregie refused to go under the bridge in the dark with the hostile officers and was then threatened with arrest. He says he couldn't get out of the situation. So he turned on the camera on his cell phone to capture the exchange of words but no faces. The police officer forbade this and demanded the device. Omoregie refused. In the video he describes what happened next:

»He grabbed me. At that moment everything was so fast. I just screamed for help. Help, help. He pushed me against the bridge railing with my head back. I look, there is water. I can not swim. Then fear comes up.” Then a man came by and asked what was going on. After the police officer and policewoman said something, the man walked away. Suddenly there were a lot of police officers there. "Then I no longer had the strength to defend myself."

Omoregie also describes in detail what followed. The police officers threw him to the ground on the bike path and handcuffed him, while others pressed on his twisted foot. »The handcuffs were very, very tight. I felt it in my skin. I scream, I cry. It hurts. It hurts.”

He told the officers: “I didn’t do anything to you. I'm coming from my work. I want to go home to my child." Then a policewoman started laughing and said "bum" - which she denied. Omoregie continues: »I said I'm not a bum. I also deserve a little respect. I work here. I also pay my taxes. I haven't hurt anyone since I came to Germany. Why does it have to happen to me?”

This was followed by a ride in the police bus and a blood sample taken against his will. Omoregie explains: »Then we were in this police station. Suddenly a lot of police come. A man comes: 'Are you calm now?' I say: 'I was calm the whole time. What do you want from me? I have handcuffs on.'"

Crying all the time in custody Omoregie. A police officer asked for his cell phone password, but he refused. The tests for alcohol and drugs ultimately came back negative. Omoregie was allowed to leave the station, but according to his own statement, he was forbidden from riding his e-scooter and was threatened with another arrest if he violated this.

»I was totally devastated. I was exhausted," says Omoregie at the time after the attack. If he had money, he would have immediately hired the most expensive lawyer. Regarding the trial, he says the camera on the bridge saved him. What the police officers wrote in their report did not match the video. “Everyone saw it, and then all of a sudden people in the courtroom start murmuring and screaming. God, everyone was on my side.” It gave him hope that people were watching the process.

The complaint against the police officers and their counter-complaint were not Omoregie's first legal dispute in Germany. Despite his training, he was threatened with deportation ten years ago, which is why his employer provided him with a lawyer and fought for him. When working in a nursing home, his skin color also plays a role: "Not every resident likes it when a man comes, or not every resident likes it when a black man comes to them."

In his speech, Omoregie also gave advice to everyone who experiences similar police violence: "If you fight for your rights, then the right will win and you will get your happiness back."

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