Pubdate: Thu, 13 Dec 2001
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5

DRUG SUSPECT DIES AFTER GERMAN POLICE FORCIBLY ADMINISTER EMETIC

HAMBURG, Germany -- A 19-year-old alleged drug dealer from Cameroon died 
today, three days after being forced by German police to take an emetic to 
make him vomit narcotics he had swallowed.

A statement from the Hamburg justice department said the cause of death was 
not clear and that an autopsy had been ordered.

The youth had a heart attack Sunday after being given the herbal emetic 
ipecacuanha while in custody. Police later found 41 vials of narcotics in 
his stomach and intestine that he had swallowed in an effort to hide 
evidence against him.

The suspect had resisted taking the substance, screaming "I will die" when 
several officers held him down so a doctor could administer it, according 
to Klaus Pueschel, the director of the pathology institute where the 
suspect was taken.

The practice of forcing a suspect to ingurgitate an emetic to recover 
evidence he had swallowed in an attempt to hide it would be maintained 
despite the incident, Hamburg's top justice official, Roger Kusch, said Monday.
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