Lawyers clash over cause of Abderrahim Fakir death during Bologna police restraint

Conflicting medical assessments

Lawyers representing the family of Abderrahim Fakir and the two police officers who restrained him presented opposing forensic findings following a meeting of medical experts in Padua. The 42-year-old Moroccan national died in Bologna on 19 July 2026 after being pinned face down. Family lawyer Fabio Anselmo stated that Fakir died of hypoxic asphyxia caused by prolonged restraint in a prone position, drawing comparisons to the 2014 death of Riccardo Magherini in Florence.

It is a death like that of Riccardo Magherini, hypoxic death due to the prone position.

Anselmo argued that toxicological tests showed 300 nanograms per millilitre of cocaine, which he characterized as half the threshold capable of causing death on its own. In contrast, defence attorney Gabriele Bordoni, citing forensic consultant Matteo Tudini, asserted that cocaine toxicity was the primary cause of death. Bordoni argued that metabolised cocaine levels exceeded lethal amounts by three times and caused alveolar lung bleeding. Bordoni also cited cardiac fibrosis as a factor and maintained that the restraint lasted three to four minutes, during which officers attempted to turn Fakir onto his side twice.

The central cause of death by hypoxia is the drug, with alveolar bleeding in the lungs.

The July restraint in Bologna

The confrontation occurred on the morning of 19 July 2026 in the Pilastro district of Bologna, specifically on Via Svevo. Law enforcement responded to reports that Fakir was experiencing a psychiatric crisis and threatening individuals near a residential garage. Video recordings from the scene captured Fakir shouting for help before losing consciousness as officers tied his hands and feet. Fakir had lived in Italy since childhood and sought treatment at Bologna's Maggiore Hospital emergency room on 20 June 2026, receiving an initial psychiatric assessment and an appointment for August.

Bystander threats and ongoing inquiry

The Bologna prosecutor office is conducting a manslaughter investigation involving the two police officers and four Red Cross paramedics present at the scene. Prosecutors expect a definitive report from their appointed medical pool, which includes Padua cardiac pathologist Cristina Basso, by 21 October 2026. Investigators have interviewed more than ten witnesses and seized Fakir's mobile phone for forensic extraction while searching for a second unrecovered telephone line to establish why he visited Pilastro, where no relatives reside.

A 37-year-old resident who assisted officers by holding Fakir's ankles during the restraint reported living in hiding following direct threats and physical violence from neighbourhood residents. The Kosovar national stated to investigators that officers requested assistance after two other bystanders left, and he noticed Fakir stop breathing before paramedics attempted resuscitation.