Officer chases thief in stockings: year in prison for shoplifter

Last summer, the Ostend wanted to steal a coat from a shop in the Kapellestraat in Ostend. After trying on he had only returned one piece of clothing, the other coat he had put on under his other clothes. When the shop assistant saw this, he pushed her away and fled.

Agents on socks

But in the fitting room next to him was an officer of the local police of Zaventem. He went after him in his stockings. Two police officers from Bruges, who happened to be sitting on a terrace nearby, were eventually able to overpower him. The Ostend resident handed out a headbutt to the agent from Zaventem and he made death threats. “The only good cop is a dead cop, or a cop with a knife in the stomach,” he said.

The Ostend citizen is already known to the police and the courts. He once threatened to burn down the police station. According to his lawyer, he certainly had no intention of making threats this time. He eventually gets two years in prison, half of which are suspended.