Cops acquitted in fatal shooting of man with walking stick

The two police officers who fatally shot Mike Stok in Rotterdam in 2013 have been dismissed from any further prosecution by the court in Rotterdam on Wednesday. The Public Prosecutor previously demanded that they be acquitted. The court did however, find the officer who fatally shot Stok guilty of manslaughter. And the officer who shot at Stok, but did not hit him, was found guilty of attempted murder, NOS reports. The judge ruled that the officers acted in self defense and rightly assumed that Stok may have harmed someone. The violence used against the man was therefore justified, and other resources such as pepper spray was not sufficient, according to the judge. According to the court, the officer who fatally shot Stok in his back took the risk that it could kill him. This risk was even greater given the fact that Stok was running through gardens with uneven ground. Manslaughter was therefore proven. At the time of the shooting Stok was waving a walking stick around that looked like an ax. Eyewitnesses - including two city guards - stated that Stok was aggressive and under the influence of alcohol. The Public Prosecutor agrees that the officers were acting in self defense.