Zurian:We're Working with Several Versions of Motive for Police Officer's Attack

Bratislava, November 14 (TASR) - Several versions of the motive for the attack are being worked with during the investigation into the case of a Kosice police officer charged with killing a detained person, the Interior Ministry's Inspection Service Office (UIS) head Branislav Zurian said following the meeting of the parliamentary defence and security committee on Thursday. Zurian said that the attack took place in a sanitary room of a department store. Another police officer was present in the room, said Zurian, adding that charges against this man haven't yet been pressed. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) stated that all the necessary questions were answered at the committee meeting. They showed that it was an individual failure of a police officer, said the minister, calling it unacceptable. "This deed should never have happened," Sutaj Estok told journalists. He called the UIS's procedure flawless, adding that the motive of the attack is still under investigation. Sutaj Estok said that he isn't afraid of responsibility, but he refuses to accept the claim that an interior minister should be responsible for every single police officer. He announced systemic measures, including the introduction of body cameras for police officers and the expansion of psychological tests to apply also to police officers who are in contact with citizens. The police officer in question, while on duty on November 5, inflicted multiple injuries to the head and body of an individual detained while perpetrating a crime, with the detainee succumbing to the injuries in hospital the following day. An UIS investigator on Tuesday (November 12) pressed charges of manslaughter against him. If found guilty, the officer might be sentenced to 12-15 years in prison. ko/mcs