The lack of answers has made the grieving process worse for Ellen Marie Gjeilo. She is very critical of the work the police did after the accident. Now the Bureau of Police Affairs has dropped the case, without an investigation. Ellen Marie Gjeilo’s lawyer, Lars Morten Bjørkholt, says they will appeal the decision. – She is disappointed and will complain about it to the Attorney General, who is the body that will possibly review the Bureau’s decision not to initiate an investigation, says Bjørkholt. – Now I hope the attorney general takes responsibility, says Ellen Marie. Tragedy Ellen Marie Gjeilo was halfway through her second pregnancy when she received the news of her death on 23 June 2020. A priest stood at the door and told her that her husband, Lars Emil Ødegård, had died. He had become trapped between a concrete wall and a crane while working on a farm in Gran. Lars Emil Ødegård and Ellen Marie Gjeilo. Photo: private It is difficult to remember what she thought and did. But she remembers that the need for information was enormous. She wanted to know what had happened and why. The police have never been able to give her those answers. Service errors Ellen Marie Gjeilo and lawyer Lars Morten Bjørkholt believe the police made many mistakes at the start of the investigation. They indicate that both the investigations at the scene of the accident and the technical investigations of the lorry and the crane were deficient. The neighbor who freed Lars Emil was not questioned. DEFICIENCY: The police in Innlandet are reported for service errors because the investigation was deficient, says lawyer Lars Morten Bjørkholt. Photo: Even Lusæter The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority agreed and complained when the case was dropped. This led to the public prosecutor ordering the investigation to be resumed. – In this case, we experienced that the police dropped the case without important work environment factors being followed up well enough, says section leader of the Norwegian Labor Inspectorate, Kirsti Breen Tofte. The company Lars Emil was on assignment for does not want to comment on the case. The employer was fined NOK 75,000 for breaching the Working Environment Act. But neither did that give Ellen Marie Gjeilo good answers to what really happened. THE PLACE OF THE ACCIDENT: Ellen Marie Gjeilo’s husband died in a work accident on this farm in Gran. Photo: Private Not likely to be punishable The Bureau of Police Affairs told news earlier this week that they could not comment on the case. Now it turns out that they had already made their decision. The decision states that the Bureau does not believe the Innlandet police district, or individuals in the police, have done anything criminal. “It is pointed out that the police’s investigation, or lack thereof, does not appear to be so deficient in scope and/or content that there is a reasonable reason to initiate an investigation. The police’s work seems to have aimed to clarify the facts of the work accident in question as well as possible, even if in the end it could not be concluded with 100 percent accuracy what had caused the situation where the deceased became trapped. The Bureau has subsequently found no reasonable grounds to initiate an investigation.” DISMISSAL: The Special Unit for Police Affairs dismisses the case without investigation. Photo: Mette Finborud Børresen Ellen Marie Gjeilo and lawyer Lars Morten Bjørkholt think this is wrong. – We believe there is reasonable reason to investigate whether there are criminal omissions or criminal circumstances in connection with the investigation of the case. He says they cannot read from the decision what the Bureau otherwise thinks about the investigation into the fatal accident. – Based on the decision itself, one cannot really see what quality stamp the Bureau puts on the investigation that was. So we believe that the Attorney General must be given the opportunity to make an assessment of it, says Bjørkholt. Made the grief worse Ellen Marie Gjeilo is left with two small children and is unable to come to terms with the fact that she lacks answers. She felt she was left with the responsibility of finding out what happened. Half a year after the accident, she sat with a newborn child in her lap and called around to find answers herself. To the police, the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority, crane companies and experts. MOURNING: Ellen Marie Gjeilo says the police’s handling of the case has worsened the grieving process. Photo: Lars Erik Skrefsrud / news – The lack of answers has worsened the grieving process. The whole situation was extreme and the police have made it worse, says Ellen Marie. She wants someone to take responsibility and prevent a recurrence. – I couldn’t live with myself if I hadn’t spoken up. I will have answers that I can give to our children. I will have an answer for myself. The last story must be written correctly.
ttn-69
Ellen Marie reports to the police for a flawed investigation after the man died in a work accident – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
