German Authorities to Examine Police Shooting of Black Teen

A top security official in Germany vowed Thursday to fully investigate the fatal police shooting of a 16-year-old Senegalese boy that has sparked a debate about excessive force by the country’s law enforcement officers.

The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, Herbert Reul, said the killing of the teenager in the city of Dortmund on Monday “will be cleared up 100 percent,” German news agency dpa quoted him as saying.

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Authorities alleged the teenager, who lived in Germany as an asylum-seeker, attacked officers with a knife at a youth support center in Dortmund. {snip}

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Several hundred people attended a Wednesday night protest in Dortmund, alleging police used disproportionate violence.

Reul, the state interior minister, said the police officers tried various methods to deescalate the situation at the center.

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The officers then twice used a Taser on the teenager {snip} The stun gun hit the boy once, but also without effect {snip}

“As the person got more and more agitated, I’ll say more tense, more aggressive, running toward the police officers … it was a question of – does he stab — or do the police shoot?” Reul added.

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