Criminal offender deemed not criminally responsible under the care of a forensic pathologist unsupervised.
June 19, 2009 | 15,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Lars Nozar
If a drunk man is alone and unsupervised with a medical officer in an "interrogation room" as a result of a crime without handcuffs.
Is this then a grossly negligent violation of the police's duty of supervision over the suspect offender?
After all, the man could have taken advantage of the opportunity to cause significant harm to the doctor with her own extraction tools in the absence of a police officer, or in the worst case scenario, could have killed the doctor in the sense of a hostage situation.
Would this be a mistake by the police, can the perpetrator or your patient use this situation as a burden against the police?????
Best regards, J. Gönner
Hello, unfortunately you are on the wrong path. From this situation, you cannot derive anything criminal procedurally. After all, nothing seems to have happened. Only if something had happened, could one derive criminal liability of the relevant officer through omission (§ 13 German Criminal Code from the duty of care towards the doctor). For example, if bodily harm had occurred, negligent bodily harm as an indirect perpetrator through omission. However, this thought is abstract in this case, as nothing has actually happened. It was the responsibility of the responsible officer. They should have also faced the consequences, had something happened. But deriving something incriminating for an investigation or criminal proceedings from this will not work legally. There is no legal basis for the accused in this regard. There is also no legal basis for the accused not being allowed to be alone with a doctor in a neutral interrogation room. Conclusion: You are right that something like this should not happen. But - as mentioned - it is up to the officer alone to justify this. I hope I have helped you. Best regards for the day.
