Amsterdam CS crash was an accident: Municipality
The police finished their investigation into an incident in which a 45-year-old man crashed his car into seven pedestrians on Stationplein at Amsterdam Central Station in June and concluded that it was an accident. There is no evidence that suggests the man deliberately crashed his car into the pedestrians. The police regret that so much suspicion and doubt arose after the incident, the municipality of Amsterdam wrote in a letter, AD reports.
"Many people were shocked by this incident. The events initially resulted in comparisons with recent attacks in Europe", the municipality wrote. Instead, this was an accident. The driver became unwell behind the steering wheel due to low blood sugar.
A day after the incident, the man was no longer suspected of intentionally trying to injure the pedestrians, but the police held him in custody to make one hundred percent sure. Police investigation revealed that the man drove too fast at several places in Amsterdam city center before the incident. The man said he could not remember doing so. He also couldn't remember crashing into the pedestrians on Stationplein.
Shortly before the incident, police officers at Central Station admonished the man for driving where he was not allowed. The officers told him how to get back to the road. The man drove off slowly, but suddenly picked up speed. Going over the tramway, he ended up in the pedestrian area, hitting a group of seven people before coming to a stop against the concrete edge of the subway entrance. A police spokesperson told AD that the police officers who spoke to the man did not get the impression that he was not feeling well. "Then they would have acted differently."
A large part of the suspicion that arose after the accident, arose when it was revealed the 45-year-old man was of Moroccan descent. In August website Geenstijl published the man's full identity. The site published a screenshot of a police system, leading to an investigation into information leaks at the police.
The police refused to reveal the driver's ethnicity or identity themselves. The corps leadership still stands behind that decision, because they never reveal the identity of those involved in traffic accidents, according to AD.
