German police make man go blind?

ROSTOCK, Germany, June 11 (UPI) -- A man who went blind in one eye because police water-cannoned him in the face during the Group of Eight summit in 2007 has sued authorities for damages.

Steffen Berger wants $42,000 from police, German news magazine Der Spiegel reports in its online edition. A father of two, he says a police officer opened fire with a water cannon and aimed for his face during the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.

The summit was accompanied by massive protests, some of them violent. Police were attacked with stones, and protesters were detained without access to lawyers.

On June 7, 2007, Berger, who says he had spontaneously decided to drive to Heiligendamm to join peaceful protests, was on a field near the summit venue when the water hit him, breaking his cheekbone and shattering the retina of his left eye.

"Nothing had indicated an escalating situation," Berger told Spiegel Online.

A witness, a student from Berlin, claims that the police officer involved merely laughed when bystanders told him that he had severely injured Berger.

Berger pressed charges as early as July 2007, but the prosecution office in the city of Rostock has still not decided whether it will launch criminal proceedings.

Steffen Sauer, Berger's lawyer, says officials are delaying the case because police are involved; the prosecution office claims it has trouble identifying the police because they came from another state in Germany.

"Police have filmed everything," Berger told Spiegel Online. "I want them to release the tapes. That would quickly clarify the case."