Local anger is mounting in Torremolinos after a 35-year-old died while being arrested at the weekend.
Tributes have poured in for Haitam, who suffered a cardiac arrest shortly before 8pm on Sunday during an incident at a shop in Calle Hoyo.
According to the Policia Nacional, the man had attempted to steal from the ‘locutorio’, a kind of store that is typical in Spain and tends to sell sim cards, second-hand phones and chargers.
The owner and customers are said to have detained him inside the store and waited for police to arrive.
Multiple officers are said to have been forced to subdue Haitam due to his ‘agitated state’. However, during his arrest, he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Now questions are mounting among those who knew Haitam and from multiple alleged witnesses, some of who claim he was ‘only asking to use a phone charger’ before the chaos unfolded.
The windows of the shop where the death occurred have been covered with pieces of paper with messages scrawled on them.
‘Justice for Haitam,’ several of them read, while one says, ‘he was only asking for a charger, he didn’t steal.’
Footage shared online shows how flowers and candles have also been left at the scene in tribute.
The Spanish Eye contacted the Policia Nacional for comment over claims a taser was used, and questions over whether a robbery had taken place.
The force told this newspaper: ‘In this case, the death of a 35-year-old man, the suspected perpetrator of an armed robbery at a business in Torremolinos, has been confirmed.
‘The Policia Nacional went to the business and subdued and arrested the suspect, who suffered a cardiac arrest. CPR efforts by the officers and paramedics were unsuccessful.
‘The judicial protocol was activated following the man’s death (the autopsy results are pending).’
Read more Costa del Sol news at the Spanish Eye.
