Mouhamed Lamin Dramé
– tortured with tear gas and Taser then shot to death by Dortmund police
The 16-year-old Mouhamed Lamin Dramé was an unaccompanied refugee from Senegal and on August 8, 2022 in such an extraordinary crisis situation, that he threatened to harm or even kill himself. At that time, he was in an inpatient placement in a youth residential group of the St. Elisabeth Youth Welfare Service at St. Antonius Church in Dortmund Nordstadt. A short time before, he had been treated at his own request for mental problems in a psychiatric clinic and expressed his suicidal intentions both to his caregivers and to the police officers called. He understood little or no German. His mother tongues were Wolof and French.
So we ask ourselves: How and in which language did the police actually communicate to calm him down in order to prevent suicide?
Mouhamed died in a hail of bullets from a submachine gun. The horror of the taking of such a young life should be dominating national headlines, yet, much of the reaction seems to be a “debate” or justification about the use of deadly force given that Mouhamed was holding a knife.
We condemn the general media narrative which distorts the course of events as if the police officers „had“ to shoot Mouhamed as a last resort, because the use of irritant spray gas and Tasers had „failed to calm him down“.
Why did the team of responders in a suicidal crisis not include mental health professionals or why did the police officers not wait for medical professionals to take adequate care but intervened excessively violent in the first step, unprofessionally escalating an already existing crisis situation?
How can police officers seriously „try“ to „prevent“ a suicide by means of a chemical warfare agent („tear gas“) and an electric pulse weapon (Taser)?
What are the competencies of police officers who are primarily called to deal with patients in psychologically critical situations? Is so called administrative assistance a license to violently intervene or moreover a license to kill?
Every medical doctor* would be held accountable for wrongful fatal treatments of patients – police officers, however, have an unconditional license to harm and kill, sanctioned by the state authorities and politicians as well as media made public opinion, without regard to their lack of competence and expertise or any accountability. While „speculations“ about known facts are morally and legally „forbidden“, the prejudiced and immediate construction of „self-defense situations“ is a routine normality in the public media discourse of police killings and its juridical persecution.
However, the use of violence against children, adolescents and people in need of protection is always an inhuman problem and can never and under no circumstances be assumed a goal-oriented „solution“!
Countless cases of police violence, race-related aggression and extralegal killings of vulnerable people by police officers, who have insufficient training/expertise in handling psychological crisis situations, are an unfortunately all too familiar phenomenon – yet learning processes or even error culture in the authorities are nowhere to be recognized. Rather the contrary is the status quo: impunity by all means providable.
As we grieve the loss of Mouhamed, we share in the grief, pain, rage, and sorrow of the recent killings of
August 2nd – a 23 year old Black man from Somalia was executed by a shot in his head in the early morning hours by police in Frankfurt
August 3rd – 48 year old Jozef Berditchevski, a street musician of Russian nationality was killed in his flat by 2 Köln civil police officers
August 7th – a 39 year old man in an obviously psychotic state of mind was killed by the police in Recklinghausen.
We also mourn the past killings of
Kamal Ibrahim – shot dead on October 3, 2021 by Stade police – 3 shots fired
Omar K. – shot on May 28, 2021 by Hamburg police – 7 shots fired
Mohamed Idrissi – shot on June 18, 2020 by Bremen police – 2 shots fired
Aman Alizada – shot on August 17, 2019 by Stade police – 5 shots
Adel B. – shot dead on June 18, 2019 by Essen police – 1 shot (through a door)
Matiullah Jabarkhil – shot dead by Fulda police on April 13, 2018 – 12 shots fired.
This list explicitly does not mean that German police officers do not shoot or otherwise kill White people in psychological crisis situations – but it illustrates that the inappropriate and counterproductive execution of vulnerable Black and People of Colour in crisis situations by police has no legal or institutional consequences.
Not a single one of these cases resulted in criminal charges or even officer discipline. Accountability is needed to deter future use of force and build community trust
We do understand all these cases as instances of racial health inequality and race-related brutality which is deeply rooted in institutional and systemic oppression.
We understand the historical context and condemn the systemic legalization of the dehumanization of Black lives in German Laws, German Administration, Media and societal practices.
We will not allow the death of 16year old Mouhamed Lamin Dramé to be in vain.
His killing is a sober reminder of the need, once again, to fight for the value of Black life in this country where a Black child in a mental crisis can be assassinated in impunity.
The BLACK COMMUNITY COALITION Of JUSTICE & SELF-DEFENCE calls on all courageous civil society initiatives and organisations to act swiftly and thoroughly to investigate and clarify the murder of Mouhamed as to bring justice for his grieving family.
Formally we demand thorough and comprehensive procedures by the German state of law well aware of our lived experiences of legal bias and cover up in all such cases ever since.
TOUCH ONE – TOUCH ALL