Police blunder: four teenagers spend 72 hours in custody by mistake

The four teenagers had nothing to do with the crime, yet they spent 72 hours in custody on the suspicion of robbery. This happened two years ago. Now, the four teenagers are suing the police with the help of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

A huge mistake

Four adolescents spent 72 hours in a cell on the suspicion of robbery, even though they had nothing to do with the crime. The unfortunate case happened two years ago, and with the help of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, they have now filed a lawsuit against the police, seeking an apology and grievance fee.

Three teenage boys and a girl were mistakenly taken into custody by the police, two of whom are now suing the District III Police. According to RTL Híradó, the group of four were walking along a shopping street in Békásmegyer when, not far from them, a group of four men beat and threatened a man with a knife and took HUF 80,000 (EUR ~210) from him.

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Confusion

The teenagers were then caught by the police and taken into custody on the suspicion of robbery. However, they were not the culprits. Later, it became clear from the investigation that there was no reasonable suspicion that they were the ones who had committed the robbery.

The police may have confused the two groups.

As we can read in Telex’s article, the boys, aged just 15, were handcuffed and kept on a lead.

“After they put the handcuffs on us, they tied a lead to us and dragged us like dogs,”