Newly released body-camera footage has exposed the shocking remarks Italian police officers made while restraining Abderrahim Fakir, the 42-year-old Moroccan national who was killed during a police intervention in Bologna on July 19. The Italian news agency ANSA published the video on Wednesday evening, capturing Fakir's final moments as he called for help and the officers pinned him to the ground.
The footage recorded by a camera worn by one of the two officers present made shocking remarks while the victim called for help. Three phrases on the recording have deepened the controversy. "If he dies, we'll have fun," one officer is heard telling the other. A second remark follows: "What do I care?" In the full recording held in the case file, an officer pulling away from Fakir's body is heard: "Go on, die!"
The experts' report also records the phrase "He's dropped dead." One of the officers described his own words to ANSA as unacceptable. "I want to apologize to the family of Abderrahim Fakir and to my corps for the unacceptable phrases I uttered," he told the agency. The officers' lawyer, Gabriele Bordoni, noted that his client had apologized to him two months earlier as defense counsel.
The lawyer for Fakir's family, Fabio Anselmo, filed a new complaint with the Bologna prosecutor's office, seeking offenses more serious than the negligent homicide currently under examination. ANSA also reconstructed the emergency response. A patrol car reached Via Italo Svevo in the Pilastro district at 12:12 p.m. One minute later, the officers requested an ambulance, describing a very agitated man.
At 12:16 they asked for a doctor-staffed vehicle, but ambulances were occupied, and the control room's relay to emergency services omitted the request for a physician. "I'll send an ambulance as soon as possible; I don't have one now," came the reply. The officers asked again at 12:25 and were told none was available. A Red Cross ambulance arrived at 12:30.
The final forensic report, delivered to prosecutors shortly before the footage emerged, attributed Fakir's death to acute respiratory failure. The experts tied it to cocaine intoxication in a chronic user, a severe heart condition, and psychomotor agitation, with the prone position a likely lesser factor. Six people are registered in the preliminary records for negligent homicide: the two officers and four Red Cross responders.
By November 19, Bologna prosecutors must decide whether to formally investigate them or close their positions. Fakir had lived in Italy since childhood, arriving as a child and spending roughly three decades in the country. His immigration lawyer, Barbara Spinelli, described him as respectful and responsible and noted his worries over renewing his residence permit.
Key points
- Italian police officers made shocking remarks while restraining Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old Moroccan national, who died during a police intervention in Bologna on July 19.
- The officers' remarks have deepened the controversy surrounding Fakir's death, with the lawyer for Fakir's family filing a new complaint with the Bologna prosecutor's office.
- The investigation may still widen, with additional individuals potentially being drawn in, as experts raised concerns over emergency dispatch and the medical personnel who arrived.
