Overview

• On June 17 in Torrejón de Ardoz, a 58-year-old off-duty officer chased a suspected phone thief and applied a neck restraint that proved deadly to the 35-year-old man of Moroccan origin.
• Bystander video captured locals pleading “please let him breathe” as the officer maintained pressure until emergency services arrived and the victim went into cardiac arrest.
• A judge ordered a breathalyser test for the detained officer, who appeared before a court on Thursday, and an autopsy is pending to establish the official cause of death.
• Más Madrid and civil rights groups condemned the killing, drawing parallels to the George Floyd case and demanding a full investigation into institutional racism within the police.
• The case has reignited debate over police accountability in Spain, echoing protests sparked by the 2018 death of a Senegalese street vendor during a police chase in Madrid.