Death of Eugene Ejike Obiora

According to an article in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten in June 2007, the autopsy report (Nordrum and Haugen) gives the following commentary on the cause of death: "The chain of events indicate that the deceased, who was most likely in a state of strong emotional upheaval, has found himself in a situation that was highly detrimental to his respiration by first having been subjected to a 'strangle hold' and then to have been placed on his stomach having first been handcuffed." The article went on citing additional statements from the forensic examiners which said that tests performed with healthy individuals show that a person's lung capacity is reduced by 40% when strapped down on the stomach for three minutes. The autopsy report also mentions English expert literature in which positioning-related suffocation is described in connection with police work, in psychiatric settings and during ambulance transport. In the report from the Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs the cause of death is established to be strangulation. The report notes that point bleeding, internal bleeding of the neck muscles, as well as fracture of the thyroid cartilage all occurred as results of the chokehold, and then goes on to conclude that the injuries caused shortness of breath, but that they alone did not cause suffocation. The Special Unit in summary finds that there has not been consciously performed "any one act which stopped/hindered" Obiora from breathing. The report goes on stating that it cannot be ruled out that Obiora's death "could have been avoided if the officers had had knowledge about possible dangers of using the stomach position".

Sør-Trøndelag police district filed a libel complaint on 2 May 2007 against a blog for having identified the previously mentioned officer by giving his name as well as picture in connection with the case.

The case was investigated by the Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs but was abandoned on 4 May 2007, concluding that in the case of three officers there was insufficient evidence to pursue an indictment, a fourth officer, identified as the chauffeur of the patrol car was cleared of any involvement. The Middle Norway Special Unit recommended however that the National Police Directorate be cited with corporate punishment for insufficient police education and training concerning the dangers of stomach positioning and leglock. However, the national chief of the Special Unit for Police Affairs did not follow up on this recommendation. All this caused 1100 people to protest in a rally in Trondheim on 8 May 2007, and in simultaneous protests in Trondheim and Oslo on May 19. An eyewitness, Ghulam Ali, spoke at the rally giving his version of what took place on the day of Obiora's death, when he saw the incident from a distance and heard the screams from Obiora who had been placed on the ground by the police.

In May 2007 the next of kin of Eugene Obiora appealed the dismissal of the investigation against the arresting officers to the Norwegian Attorney General, and on June 28 the Attorney General ordered the Special Unit for Police Affairs to instigate a new and more thorough investigation of the case.

As a direct consequence of the case, training at the Norwegian Police Academy has undergone changes and national police director Ingelin Killengreen has instigated a thorough review of police methods generally. The policemen who are involved in the case told the Trondheim daily Adresseavisen in mid-September 2007 that they would urge the central police leadership to implement routines for temporary reassigning officers involved in cases such as the Obiora case, where three of the officers have remained in their positions during the investigations and the fourth was reassigned based on his own initiative. The officers state that they understand how the public would be upset when such reassignments are not implemented. They emphasize however that there would have to be a change of the rules for this to become routine as otherwise a reassignment would be perceived, both by the officers and by the public at large, as a censure. Sør-Trøndelag police chief Per Marum has on several occasions responded to claims that the officers be suspended that according to the Norwegian civil servant act this can only be effected when existing information exists that could lead to dismissal.

Also in mid-September 2007, the leader of the Special Unit for Police Affairs, Jan Egil Presthus, stated to the Oslo daily Dagsavisen that all investigations into police conduct of cases that have ended in deaths are going to be posted on the Internet. He states that a total openness in this way will strengthen the public confidence in the unit's integrity and ability to conduct its investigations impartially. This comes following Dagsavisen's listing in June of police cases with a deadly result. Since the Special Unit's establishment on 1 January 2005 the investigation into ten of the most serious cases were concluded, in all 10 cases leading to all charges against the police being dropped. A buzzing media discourse focusing on deaths incurred during police arrests and transports has been going on in Norway throughout 2007, and Presthus counts this as one factor triggering the initiative to publish ongoing investigations on the Internet. The cases will be presented on the web pages of the Special Unit for Police Affairs, and they will be presented in a way that preserves the anonymity of officers that are involved, and also other parties in cases where that is considered necessary with respects to protection of privacy.

The media scrutiny intensified when information was uncovered that the officer who held Obiora in a strangle hold had also been involved in an incident in 1999 with a Ghanaian woman, Sophia Baidoo that some felt were similar. The incident was filmed by a bank security camera, and the officer was later cleared of all charges.

Eugene Ejike Obiora (25 February 1958 – 7 September 2006) was a naturalized Norwegian citizen, originally from Nigeria. The first-born of 10 siblings, he had lived in Norway for more than 20 years. On 7 September 2006 he was choked to death by Trondheim police officer Trond Volden.