An eyewitness account of the shooting of a young drug addict by a plainclothes police officer in front of many people in the resort town of Kuşadası in the middle of the day casts doubt on the official statement provided by the provincial governor. The victim, who was shot in the head, remains in intensive care and the officer has been suspended from duty
A police officer who shot a young man in the head in western Turkey was suspended Thursday, but the story of how the midday confrontation unfolded has been contested by one of the many eyewitnesses.
Umut Tamaç, 27, was shot in the head Tuesday by a plainclothes police officer in the resort town of Kuşadası. He was seriously injured and remains in intensive care. Aydın Gov. Hüseyin Avni Coş announced that the officer in question had been suspended, the Anatolia news agency reported.
An eyewitness meanwhile provided a contradictory account of the shooting in an exclusive interview with daily Radikal that cast doubt on the official statement provided by the governor of the western province. Coş said Tamaç, who had a warrant out for his detention, drew a knife after being stopped by the officer and the policeman’s gun fired during the scuffle.
But witness Mehmet Yaylacı, who runs a store next to the crime scene, told Radikal a different story. According to Yaylacı, the victim and the policeman were staring each other down, and the officer was threatening Tamaç with death. Yaylacı said he believes that Tamaç was scared and wanted to leave, but the police officer was blocking his way and would not let him go, Radikal reported Thursday.
In the end, Tamaç defied the police after being threatened and harassed in many ways, Yaylacı claimed, saying that he was free to do as he wanted. The shop owner also said Tamaç was unarmed, while the officer had been pointing his gun at the victim since the beginning of the quarrel.
According to Yaylacı, the police officer first shot at Tamaç’s foot but missed, then hit him on the head with his gun and knocked him down. Despite objections and even pleas from witnesses, the shop owner said, the officer lifted Tamaç up, shot him in the head and then told the witnesses to call 155, the police tip line.
When other police arrived, Yaylacı said, there was a knife on the ground, but he did not see whether the victim had dropped it or not. He added that the police officers hastily carried Tamaç away because members of the people gathered around the scene had made a move toward him. The shop owner also said that police threatened the witnesses, telling them not to testify against the officer.
“I refused to testify at the police station, but I most certainly will testify in court. I still cannot get it out of my mind and am deeply traumatized by what I have seen,” Yaylacı told Radikal, emphasizing that he does not know either party involved in the incident. “I cannot live with a guilty conscience and without doing the right thing. Those who are doing this today to this kid will most certainly keep doing it, and maybe one day I myself will be the victim.”
On Thursday, Gov. Coş said it would be out of the question to cover the incident up and that the witnesses who talked to Radikal would be called in to testify, the Doğan news agency reported.
Tamaç’s sister Pınar Tamaç claimed that no detention warrant had been issued against him, only a warrant for his hospitalization under police custody, Radikal reported. Pınar Tamaç also countered the official statement claiming that her brother was a drug dealer, saying he only used – but did not sell – drugs.
“Contrary to what is being said about him, he does not have a criminal record for drug dealing, but for unlawful carrying of a gun,” Pınar Tamaç said, noting that her brother did not obey the policeman’s order to stop because the officer was in plain clothes and did not show his identification.
“My brother was treated for schizophrenia, although no firm diagnosis was established, and he has been treated for drug addiction, too,” Pınar Tamaç said. “One month ago, he went to the doctor’s control in police custody, and was released on the same day because he was sober. Umut has to go to control every month and be observed by the medical committee as to whether he still is using drugs or not.”
“Every time the committee has confirmed that he has not been on drugs at all, so he has been released. There is a court order that allows the police to take him to the doctor’s control by force if he resists; however, there is no detention warrant or no warrant whatsoever,” she said.
Adding that her brother lives alone in Kuşadası and that their mother died a long time ago, Pınar Tamaç said: “He is a problem child; however, nothing justifies what the police officer has done to him.”
