Police make arrest following gondola deaths

Police in the canton of Schwyz have arrested the operator of a transport gondola that crashed on Saturday killing a couple and seriously injuring their baby.

Published: 4 August 2013 20:47 CEST

Police make arrest following gondola deaths

Police remove the gondola from the wooded mountainside. Photo: Schwyz cantonal police

In a statement, the cantonal police said they had arrested the man after receiving contradictory statements from several people questioned.

The accident occurred on Saturday at Alp Bärlaui in Innerthal, when a wooden gondola carrying the family plunged 30 metres into the forested mountainside.

Police said the car came off the cable 900 metres from its top station at Alp Bärlaui.

The 38-year-old Swiss father and 31-year-old Canadian mother were thrown from the gondola and died of their injuries, police said.

Their one-year-old baby daughter was seriously injured but is out of danger.

The baby's life was saved by the fact that she was being carried in a rucksack, and by branches and bushes that stopped her fall.

Police said the family lived abroad and were in the region on holiday.

Transport gondolas make it easier to move supplies to and from mountain chalets and pastures, and it is illegal for them to carry people.

Police said the investigation into the cause of the accident was continuing.

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A Swiss appeals court confirmed Monday the acquittal of six police officers over the death of a Nigerian man, in a case that drew comparisons to George Floyd’s killing in the United States.

As with the lower court verdict a year ago acquitting the officers of negligent homicide in the case of Mike Ben Peter, Monday’s ruling sparked immediate protests and chants of “Shame!” outside the courthouse.

Around 80 people crowded outside the court, shouting: “Black lives matter!”, “Justice for Mike”, and “Police kill, the judiciary acquits!”

The 39-year-old Nigerian died following a violent arrest after he refused a police drug search in Lausanne in western Switzerland in early 2018.

In the encounter with the six police officers, he was pinned to the ground on his stomach. He died in hospital a few hours later after suffering a heart attack.

His death initially received little attention, but the global outcry over Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020 placed a bigger spotlight on the Swiss case.

During the first trial in June last year, a court in Lausanne ruled that the six officers involved in the incident could not be found guilty of negligent homicide.

The public prosecutor’s office also decided to drop the charges, referring in particular to forensic analyses that were unable to state with certainty that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.

After three days of hearings last week at the appeals court in Renens, near Lausanne, the three judges confirmed the lower court ruling, acquitting the officers of negligent homicide.

They also acquitted them on an additional charge of abusing their authority, brought by the lawyer of Ben Peter’s family, Simon Ntah.

As with during the first trial, the judges relied heavily on forensic expert testimony to reach their conclusion.

The experts testified that it was impossible to say for certain that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.