‘Heroic’ Turkish-German girl died after earring pierced skull, autopsy says

Ahmet İncel MUNICH - Doğan News Agency

Tuğçe Albayrak, a young German student of Turkish descent who was fatally beaten while trying to protect two women from being harassed, died after her earring punctured her skull when she fell on the ground, according to a recently revealed autopsy report.

The 22-year-old woman died on Nov. 28, 2014, after languishing in a coma for around two weeks following an altercation with three men of Serbian descent that she tried to stop from sexually harassing two German girls in the parking lot of a McDonald’s in Offenbach, a town near Frankfurt.

According to a report from German weekly magazine Stern, the autopsy report concluded that her death was caused by her earring piercing her skull when she fell on the concrete ground after receiving a blow from one of the men, identified as Sanel M.

A lawyer for the Albayrak family, Macit Karamehmetoğlu, told German daily Bild that the autopsy result was not expected to lead to any changes in charges against the suspect, who is accused of injury resulting in death.

Albayrak’s attempt to protect the girls triggered an outpouring of public sympathy in Germany, causing thousands, including German leaders, to pay their respects to the late woman on the streets and in social media.