14-Year-Old Died of Hypothermia in City Center. Police Officers Face Trial

Three police officers have gone on trial over the death of 14-year-old Natalia, who died after spending hours in freezing conditions in the center of Andrychów. Her father did not attend the first hearing, and the court partially closed the proceedings after defense lawyers requested that they be held behind closed doors.

Natalia left for school on Nov. 28, 2023, during severe frost. She became unwell on the way and called her father, saying she did not know where she was. She stopped answering. Her father alerted police in the late morning and, according to the report, waited about an hour for action. A friend found the girl at about 1 p.m., sitting beside a supermarket roughly half a kilometer from the police station.

Natalia was taken to the University Children's Hospital in Krakow in a state of hypothermia, but doctors could not save her. Experts later found that she had other medical conditions, including brain swelling caused by massive bleeding in the midbrain.

Prosecutors from the Krakow regional prosecutor's office charged two Andrychów officers in June. They say the officers failed to perform duties required after receiving information about the girl's disappearance and the possible danger. Prosecutors allege that they adopted the wrong search assumptions, failed to send police patrols and did not immediately order the location of her mobile phone. Prosecutor Oliwia Bożek-Michalec said the phone was working and that locating it could have accelerated the search.

The indictment says the alleged failures unintentionally exposed the minor to a direct risk of death or serious harm. The defendants denied the charges during the investigation and face up to three years in prison. Prosecutors also charged another Andrychów officer in a separate proceeding. Police opened six disciplinary investigations after Natalia's death, including cases that resulted in reprimands for officers accused of failing to carry out their duties.

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Ordering the location, at least in the prosecution's view, could have accelerated finding her.