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| Handcuffs on hand illustration |
A man is suing the Israeli police department after a police officer lost the key to his handcuffs while he was under arrest, according to a lawsuit filed in an Israeli court.
The man, 23, is demanding 280,000 shekels for damages resulting from being handcuffed for a whole night, two years ago. He claims that the police told him that they lost the key to his handcuffs.
It all began when A., just wanted to hang out with friends one Friday night in July 2011, but his fun night out became a nightmare,which ended at Assaf Harofeh Hospital in Zrifin. At approximately 2:00 am police arrived at the street where they were hanging out and sent the crowd home. Police however, violently arrested A., according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states that the man suffered constant abuse by police officers. "Although the man did not resist arrest, he was sprayed with tear gas. The man was unable to defend himself while police used violence against him, which included kicking him on all parts of the body, the head, back, abdomen and ribs," the lawsuit states.
“While riding to the police station, the man asked police to remove his handcuffs because he was having difficulty breathing, but none of them had the right key to open his handcuffs,” the lawsuit said. The man’s wrists became bruised and swollen. Finally, the handcuffs were removed from one hand at 10:00 am the next morning while firefighters removed the handcuffs from his second hand.
A doctor at the hospital determined that the man suffered some nerve damage to his hands. The man claims that he is unable to return to work as an auto mechanic due to the incident.
Police said in a statement that they offered the man to file a complaint with internal affairs, but the man did not arrive. After a year and a half the man filed a complaint.