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INPRIMATU
A man with a psychotic outbreak dies after a violent Ertzaintza intervention
  • A 36-year-old man, in the middle of a psychotic drug demonstration, requested the assistance of the police in Astigarraga on 2 February. Instead of helping, her family reports that the Ertzaintza violently treated the man and that he was dead when he entered the ambulance.
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Eneko Valdésen gorpua. Argazkia: Berria

He says that if instead of intervening the Ertzaines had taken him by ambulance, Eneko Valdés could still be alive. They have filed a complaint with the Tribunal and have already come to Ararteko.

Both in Berria and in Naiz they have collected the story. After taking cocaine, Valdés gets into a situation of delirium and paranoia, thinking they were shooting and asking for help, scared. The neighbors asked him if he wanted me to call the police and yes. The agents of Astigarraga approached and tried to calm them down, told him that they were between Valdés and the alleged aggressors, who would immediately come down to the ambulance. The family is grateful for the work done by the Municipal Guard.

Then the Ertzaines appeared and declared that they took control of the situation. The Azkar Unit of the Ertzaintza, in charge of the immediate response, intervened in the portal and was told to remove the neighboring nurse who was helping until then. The same thing was said to Eneko Valdés' partner when he came from work. Shortly afterwards, Valdés went down to the ambulance, lying on the stretcher, still. The family version says that Valdés was already dead (the reference nurse suspected that he had died and heard the ambulance health staff who had no pulse), but the Ertzaintza says he died by ambulance.

In the Ertzaintza Control Commission, the Ertzaines have pointed out that they only immobilized man, holding hands and legs, “to discontrol actions and avoid violent ones”. In the news, journalist Arantxa Iraola has stressed that it is striking that in a situation like the present one there are so many ertzaines who intervene and have this capacity to decide, as it is usually up to health professionals to care for patients in this situation. "Nothing justifies what happened. He had no weapons, he had nothing," the family says.

And what does the autopsy say?

The preliminary report of the autopsy lists numerous types of injuries: wounds, hematomas, abrasions, erythema, ecchymosis, hemorrhages… Man also has three broken ribs and two other injured. According to experts consulted by the family, brands caused by the Taser gun can also appear in the body of Valdés.

What killed Eneko Valdés, cardiorespiratory arrest due to drug use, police intervention, the effects of both? The journalist Ramón Sola Maddi Txintxurreta Naiz asks: the Forensic Service has not yet fully clarified it and has requested more toxicological and histopathological tests, on the one hand, and on the other, those related to the intervention and art that was made.