Cops not prosecuted for shooting at prisoner who escaped from psychiatric clinic

Four police officers will not be prosecuted for firing 30 shots at an escaped prisoner in the village of Hulten in October last year, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said on Wednesday. The man who escaped from a mental health institution was known to be armed and dangerous and seemed to be carrying a firearm, the OM said.

The man escaped from the mental health institution in Halsteren. On 19 October 2023, he was involved in a high-speed chase with the police, starting in Etten-Leur and ending in Hulten.

In Hulten, the man was forced to stop his car because concrete blocks were blocking the road. “As he got out of the car and climbed over the hood, he pointed an object resembling a firearm at the officers,” the OM said. “They responded by shooting at the suspect.” The man fled and took shelter in a nearby barn, where he was arrested.

The officers fired a total of 30 bullets at the man, hitting him in his legs.

The OM asked the Rijksrecherche, the department that handles internal investigations at government services like the police, to investigate the officers’ use of their firearms. The Rijksrecherche concluded that the shooting was justified, and the OM agreed.

The investigation showed that the officers knew the man was registered as armed and dangerous. The weapon the man was pointing at the officers turned out to be an air pistol “that bore a striking resemblance to a real pistol,” the OM said.

“The OM, therefore, believes that the officers could reasonably assume that they saw a real firearm in the suspect’s hand and that he would use it against people.”