Decorated soldier arrested for headbutting cop: report

A decorated military veteran was arrested over the weekend in Den Bosch, accused of striking a police officer with a head butt. The officer initially stopped Marco Kroon, 47, for urinating in public, according to the Brabants Dagblad.

The investigation was reportedly being carried out by the Marechaussee, the branch of the military which handles border enforcement and specific policing duties. Current and former members of the military accused of criminal offenses often have their cases investigated by Marechaussee personnel, RTL Nieuws reported.

Major Kroon was given one of the highest honors in the Netherlands, when Queen Beatrix made him a member of the Military Order of Willem - Fourth Class in 2009. Sadly, he faced several problems in the years that followed.

Most notably, he claimed in 2018 that he was abducted in Afghanistan in 2007, and then killed one of his captors weeks after he was released. His story was unable to be verified by the Defense Ministry which was working with the Public Prosecutors office.

“During this short imprisonment I was harshly questioned, assaulted and severely humiliated. I was released at some point,” he said, without knowing the reason for his release. He claimed he spotted his Taliban kidnapper later by chance. “It was ‘him or me’ at that moment. I reached for my weapon on reflex and fired my entire magazine empty on the man’s body.”

In the year that followed his 2009 honor, Kroon was brought up on charges related to weapons and drugs. He was found guilty in 2011 of the weapons crimes for the possession of several electric shock devices.