Ghanaian allegedly killed by Finnish police officers

A Ghanaian resident in Austria, Samuel Dolphyne, has been allegedly killed by police officers in Finland.

According to a report by MyNewsGH.com, Dolphyne lost his life after he was strangled for drunk driving.

YEN.com.gh understands that Dolphyne had come from Austria to visit his friend in Finland, and he had planned to return on the morning on Sunday, November 25, 2018.

The incident happened around 11:30pm, on Saturday November, 18, 2018, after the deceased and his friend Kwaku Ofori, had gone to a mini Christmas party organized by the Eastern Region (Koforidua) Association of Finland.

Ofori revealed that he was in the same car with Dolphyne, when police officers stopped them. He added that they asked the deceased to blow air into an alcoholometer, which he did.

He was then asked to blow into it the second time and he did. The police then asked him how much alcohol he has consumed, to which he replied “one bottle of beer”.

Ofori was then asked to confirm the statements, to which he replied in the affirmative. According to Ofori, Dolphyne voluntarily stepped out of the car and approached the police. “I thought he was going to plead with the police”, he said.

After a while, Ofori who was still sitting in the car, also stepped down to check why the deceased has kept long.

Ofori recalls Dolphyne lying on the ground with the two policemen on top of him trying to handcuff him.

According to him, the deceased was shouting for help. “He was shouting and calling my name: Ofori! Ofori! they are killing me! I can’t breathe! I have asthma!”, Ofori recalled.

Ofori, who was about 5 meters from the scene, shouted at the police to release the Dolphyne, but the officers did not listen.

They held Dolphyne down and continued to handcuff him until he went unconscious and silent.

A local newspaper in Finland, Ilta Sanomat, reported that the now confirmed dead Dolphyne, who left behind a young daughter, was aggressive towards the police.

Ofori however disputes this. Ofori explained that what he saw on the ground was a dying man fighting for his life with no sign of aggression.

Furthermore, Ofori claims that by the time the deceased lost consciousness, only one of his hands was cuffed, contrary to what the newspaper reported.