The two security guards had the right to use emergency protection when they intervened against Juha Hynninen, 47, on the platform.
But the prosecutor believes at the same time that they should have quickly released the deadly grip.
Now he is asking for a year in prison for grossly causing the death of another.
– Deadly violence has been used which led to the death of a person, during a conscious risk-taking, he says.
Today, the trial was held against the two security guards – a now 31-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman – who are accused of causing the death of 47-year-old Juha Hynninen.
Prosecutor Lucas Eriksson, who leads the investigation, believes that they initially used emergency protection rights when they intervened against Juha Hynninen and took him to the ground on the subway platform.
– Both have had emergency protection rights. Hynninen has previously attacked others and against them and until they got control of him, which happens quite quickly, they have not acted incorrectly, says Lucas Ericsson during the trial, and continues:
– The incorrect behavior is that you maintain your stranglehold while sitting over your back.
“A roller coaster”
It was around 01:30 on July 31 last year that Juha Hynninen walked down the subway platform at Rådmansgatan station in central Stockholm.
When the two security guards, a now 31-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, intervened, Juha Hynninen had attacked several people on the platform.
During the trial, the 31-year-old described the incident as “a roller coaster”. He said that they encountered an aggressive and threatening man and when they could not make contact with him, the 31-year-old took a hold to gain control of him and that he felt cut off during the situation.
After he got Juha Hynninen down on the ground, the 24-year-old security guard sat down on Juha Hynninen’s lower back. She then held his head down with her hand, while the 31-year-old security guard held a kind of stranglehold on Juha Hynninen.
– He was so terribly strong and I think it’s over if he stands up. I try to sit over his legs, but I end up on his back so he doesn’t get up again, she says.
“Difficult to understand why you keep your grip”
So far in the course of events, the prosecutor does not believe that they did anything wrong in the intervention. However, he believes that they should have let go of Juha Hynninen as soon as they got control of him on the ground. According to the prosecutor, the injuries indicate that it was a grab to the back and neck that led to suffocation and Juha Hynninen’s death.
He also says that the security guards should have understood that they would release the dangerous grip.
– It is difficult to understand why you maintain your grip as long as you do. It is difficult to understand how they reason about not acting together and in agreement. They work in close proximity to each other.
The security guards, on the other hand, say that they checked whether Juha Hynninen was breathing, and only afterwards, when more patrols joined the scene, realized that he was no longer breathing.
– We put him in the side position and I hear colleagues approaching. My colleague asks if he is breathing, and I answer yes when I see that his abdomen is moving up and down, says the 24-year-old, and continues:
– Then it takes a while before the third patrol is on site, and they are the ones who draw attention to the fact that we have to start CPR. Then I run and get a defibrillator, before we start CPR.
Asking for a year in prison
Prosecutor Lucas Eriksson also believes that they should have checked whether Juha Hynninen was breathing when they held him down to the ground.
– Even though they understood that he was unconscious, they don’t check if he’s breathing or has a pulse, that’s something you marvel at when you see the film, says Lucas Eriksson, and continues:
– I mean that the prosecution is substantiated and it is a serious crime. Deadly violence has been used, which led to the death of a person, during a conscious risk-taking.
The prosecutor has asked for a year’s imprisonment for grossly causing the death of another for both security guards.
The 31-year-old’s lawyer, Henrik Hoffman, believes that his client acted correctly.
– In any case, my client was convinced that it was necessary that he did not let go of his grip. It’s solar emergency protection, he says.
The 24-year-old’s lawyer Peter Nilsson believes that she should not be considered the perpetrator.
– There hasn’t been a crime plan and they haven’t talked about how they should act before the intervention. She should not be considered responsible for Juha’s death, he says.