Spanish cab driver reportedly badly beaten by German cops on holiday

Four German holidaymakers were detained by police on the Spanish island of Mallorca for allegedly beating a cab driver, local police on the island announced.

At least two of the suspected attackers were off-duty police officers from the western German city of Essen, a source told dpa on Thursday confirming a previous report in the Rheinische Post newspaper.

The 71-year-old victim told the Mallorca Zeitung newspaper that the men had claimed to be German police officers and had even shown him their ID cards. He said the arrival of local Spanish police "saved my life.

"I thought they were going to kill me. I hardly understand how my body could survive the attack," the cab driver, identified as José María P, told the newspaper.

The 71-year-old man is being treated in hospital in Palma with a broken arm, two broken ribs, numerous bruises, black eyes and other injuries.

The case has drawn extensive media coverage across Spain.

The victim's son told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE that his father was at risk of going blind in one eye as a result of the beating.

German police officials in Essen confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the alleged beating and possible involvement of officers from the force.

"We are aware of the incident," an Essen police spokesman told dpa on Thursday. "There is a suspicion, we cannot rule it out."

The men reportedly got into the cab on Tuesday night in the so-called Ballermann area of Mallorca, a raucous stretch of bars and clubs popular with heavy-drinking young German holidaymakers.

They asked to be taken to their hotel near the centre of the island, according to a report from Mallorca Magazine.

The cab driver said the men were travelling in a group of seven, with several riding in colleague's cab. He described two of the men as "dead drunk."

In the interview from his hospital bed, the cab driver said everything seemed fine at first: "They split the bill and gave me a good tip. I helped unload the two drunkards."

Afterwards, one of the passengers was missing his cell phone.

"Three other people came out of the hotel. We turned the cab upside down and searched for the cell phone," but nothing was found.

According to both Mallorca police and the victim, the group of Germans then accused him of having stolen the phone and beat him.

When the police arrived at the rural hotel in the town of Petra, around 40 kilometres east of the island capital of Palma, one of the Germans allegedly offered the cab driver and police officers money to refrain from pressing charges, according to media reports.

One of the Germans was also arrested for this attempted bribery and his companions were later detained by police as well.

All four German suspects have since left the country and returned home, although police in Mallorca have said that a criminal investigation remains ongoing.

The public reaction to the incident on Mallorca and across Spain may be fuelled in part by growing popular frustration in Spain with the huge crowds of tourists who visit Mallorca and elsewhere in the country.

Incidents involving heavily intoxicated German tourists on Mallorca have repeatedly led to public discussions on the island over ways to limit hard-partying foreign holidaymakers.

"I've been driving Germans around Mallorca for 40 years. I never had a problem with them. Not even on the night shifts at Playa de Palma," the victim in the beating told the Mallorca newspaper.

"People often asked me what I thought of the Germans. I was always full of praise. Now I don't even want to see them lying on the beach."