Malevizi: off-duty police officer injured

An officer of the Α΄ Police Station of Heraklion, who was off duty and had gone for a swim, spotted a man being sought by the authorities on the afternoon of Tuesday 18 August at the mouth of the Almyros river, in the Municipality of Malevizi. According to reports in the local media, the officer immediately alerted the Hellenic Police control room and then attempted to restrain the man himself until reinforcements arrived. A scuffle followed, during which the officer was injured. Shortly afterwards strong police forces arrived at the scene and proceeded to arrest the man. The incident unfolded in one of the busiest coastal areas west of Heraklion, at a peak hour for the beaches of the northern axis.

There are two discrepancies in the available sources that have not been clarified. The first concerns the man’s identity and status: Flashnews describes him as a 36-year-old Dutch national who had fled the psychiatric clinic of the University General Hospital of Heraklion, CNA speaks of a wanted Dutch national who had fled the hospital where he was being treated, without specifying a clinic, while Nea Kriti refers to him as an escapee from the University General Hospital. The second concerns the seriousness of the injury: CNA describes it as serious, while the other two outlets do not specify. No Hellenic Police press release about the incident was found, so neither of the two versions has been confirmed institutionally.

Every reference to hospital treatment or to a clinic comes exclusively from the above reports and is attributed to them. There is no official information about the reasons for the hospital treatment, about how the man left the hospital or about the charges attributed to him, while the presumption of innocence applies. The mouth of the Almyros lies in an area with a permanent presence of bathers throughout the summer, and the fact that the incident unfolded in a public space with people around explains the rapid mobilisation of the forces. The Municipality of Malevizi is connected to Heraklion by the Northern Road Axis of Crete, which allows reinforcements to be moved relatively quickly from the city to the coastline.

It has not become known whether the injured officer remained in hospital care, nor when he is expected to return to duty. Nor has it been announced whether the man arrested was taken before a prosecutor or returned to a medical institution, a distinction that matters, since the procedure differs substantially in the two cases. The question of how a man being sought by the authorities was moving about freely on a beach in the area also remains unanswered. A possible announcement by the General Regional Police Directorate of Crete could clarify both the man’s age and status and the state of the officer’s health, details on which conflicting information is currently circulating.