The prosecutor in the case gave details to LA HORA about the elements that motivated the court to sentence the police officer who killed two men during an assault.
Since it became known that the police Santiago Olmedo would charged with overreach of force, only his legal defense has spoken. “We don’t, because we have been doing what corresponds to us: investigating,” says Patricio Parco, prosecutor in the case, who spoke with LA HORA on January 20, 2022.
Life in danger?
Olmedo and his defense have argued that the Police acted to protect the minor who was intimidated by a criminal with a knife. It was also said that when they started a chase, a man appeared on a motorcycle to take the criminal. Both were killed.
Olmedo He added that there was a third man and that they pointed a firearm at him. These, says Parco, are some of the inconsistencies in the testimony of the police that – on January 19, 2022, he was sentenced to three years and four months in jail – because the presence of a third party was not demonstrated, nor was the alleged weapon found.
The agent Fiscal points out that the experts determined that the shots they were made 220 meters from the place where the minor was. “It has been spread in the media and social networks that the shots could have been fired at the time they were helping the victim, which is not true»
It was also determined – by autopsy – that Olmedo, total he fired 12 times, so each killed received six bullets. Was Olmedo’s or the minor’s life in danger? Parco is blunt: «si is that someone is attacking me, the shot could not have been fired from behind«. However, Jorge Arias, defense attorney for Olmedo, details that the police he was ambushed “by the antisocials.”
With this, the official from the Prosecutor’s Office reiterates that the autopsy determined that the shots, to the two men, they went back and forth, by the back And he adds that once the event happened, it was determined that none of the three cops who were in the middle of the event, including OlmedoThey had wounds or traces of violence.
This, according to the standards of the Inter-American Court, which establishes parameters such as legality, necessity and proportionality for the progressive use of force. And the expert opinion details that “in the case that concerns us specifically, it does not meet the criteria of necessity and proportionality.”
political interference
In case of Olmedo It has become mediatic among Internet users on social networks, but it has also had political interference. «It is unusual that a server of the National Police, who uses his weapon to save the life of a citizen, be convicted. Santiago Olmedo he did his duty. We will support Corporal Santiago until he regains his freedom», wrote on her Twitter account (@AlexandraVelaP), the Minister of Government, Alexandra Vela, this January 19, 2022.
While President Guillermo Lasso described the event as outrageous.
Parco says that the judicial function has independence and this is something that must be respected. “The opinion is respectable, but with knowledge of the cause,” he added. (AVV)
FACT:
Read the extended interview of this case on January 21, 2022. on our website
IT MAY INTEREST YOU:
Pregnant women can apply the third dose without risk
