A 31-year-old motorcyclist was killed by a 26-year-old police officer in his hometown of Eindhoven in December. Moments before the collision, the officer raced through the built-up area with his police car at 129 kilometers per hour. According to the court in Den Bosch, he drove recklessly and was therefore sentenced to 200 hours of community service on Tuesday.
He will also be banned from driving for one year, of which six months will be conditional. According to the court, the officer is guilty of very careless and inattentive traffic behavior.
“He went far too eagerly and with insufficient attention to the safety of other road users in his police car to the report of the decoy bicycle. The suspect made a completely wrong decision between the performance of his police duties and road safety. He exceeded the Industry Directive of the police,” the ruling reads.
However, according to the court, it is important that ‘the actions of a police officer entail risks’. That is why the officer does not receive the same punishment as an ordinary road user. Moreover, according to the judge, the suspect had ‘the best intentions’ from his role as a police officer. “He is deeply affected by the traffic accident.”
Stolen decoy bicycle
The officer had just heard from the control room that a decoy bicycle had been stolen in the city. Within no time, the police car reached speeds of 129 kilometers per hour, as a number of investigations have shown.
When the car, with a blue flashing light, crossed the Dr. Cuyperslaan was driving and as the junction with Woenselsestraat approached, a motorcycle came from the left. The motorcyclist should have given way, but he did not get the chance to do so. The officer did slow down a bit, but must have driven at least 100 kilometers when he scooped the motorcycle. The police car then also hit a lamppost.
In the meantime, the motorcyclist had ended up on the road surface. The officer and his co-driver tried to save his life, but it was in vain. He suffered serious brain damage and serious leg injuries
‘Brute violence
Two sisters and a brother of the victim reacted angrily to what the officer did to them. “We were one person as a family, but my brother, our right arm, was cut off from us due to brutal violence,” the youngest sister said during the hearing. “The pain this has caused is unimaginable and the question is whether it will ever go away.”
She was angry with the officer, who listened to her with his head bowed: “The fact that he has decided to appear here in a police uniform proves that he thinks he has acted competently. He’s just here to save his own skin.”
The officer said both at the beginning and at the end of the hearing that he finds it ‘terrible’ what happened and that he is ‘very sorry’. The court called his apology sincere, but that did not detract from the seriousness of the fatal accident.
Fire brigade, police and ambulances were called in after the accident was reported: