The Granada high court has reduced the sentences of two Almuñécar Local Police officers convicted of injuring a 71-year-old woman who reproached them for parking their patrol car at a bus stop while they were having breakfast in a nearby bar.

A court in Almuñécar had fined them 2,700 euros and found them guilty of a minor offence of injury with the aggravating circumstance of abuse of authority. The court ordered them to compensate the victim with 1,000 euros.

The judge found that the officers were rude to the woman, and even injured her, when they attempted to force her in the police car as she resisted. They kicked her and prevented her from calling someone once she arrived at the station.

The officers appealed and although the Granada court upheld the charge, it reduced the fine to 600 euros.

The officers requested that the proceedings be nullified. The court, however, rejected their appeal. It stated that “no rule, procedural principle, or other legal provision” prevents the “excessive action of police” from being dealt with separately. The court also rejected all the other arguments put forth by the officers. The sentence is final, and no appeal is possible.

The events occurred at around 9am on 24 May 2025, when the bus in which the woman was travelling from La Herradura could not pull in to the bus stop properly because the Almuñécar Local Police car was parked.

The woman, who was driving the car, was in the middle of a traffic jam caused by the arrival of a bus. She said loudly, without addressing anyone specifically, “Police are here setting an excellent example”.

The officers were reprimanded by passersby for the traffic congestion they caused when they emerged from the bar.

The officers got out of the patrol car at the pedestrian crossing where the old woman crossed and, in an “unpleasant manner” and “in a loud tone”, one of them said “you there”, gesturing to her with his hand.

She said that if the officer wanted anything, he could go to her location. The officer then asked her, “Who are you?” and told her to get into the car if she didn’t show her ID card.

The woman said she would not give her ID card to the officer if he used that tone and requested that he speak to her with respect. The officer then “grabbed [her] arm and pulled her in the patrol car”. The woman grabbed the traffic sign to stop her.

The officer “started to pull her” and eventually managed to free her from the sign. Although he tried forcing her into the car, she left her leg out, so that he couldn’t close the doors.

The officer kicked at her legs, trying to get her into the car. When she didn’t, he hit the door. Since he couldn’t close the door, he asked another officer to open the rear door to help him pull her inside.

The old woman was at the police station and tried to call her child. But the officer “in an unkind manner” took her phone from her, slammed the handset on the table, and refused to let her call anyone.

The woman was arrested at the Guardia Civil Station, but she was later brought back to the bus station so that she could go home around 4pm the same day. No record exists that the officers informed the woman of her rights. She suffered injuries to her shoulder and bruises in her legs.