Early one morning in the spring, the police tried to stop Mohammed M. (29) on a highway near Amsterdam. M. swayed, suddenly drove only 30 kilometers per hour, so that vehicles behind had to slam on the brakes. At first he seemed to obey the police’s stop signal. But then suddenly he hit the accelerator, and that was the beginning of what could have been a dead man’s ride.
With speeds between 160 and 190 kilometers per hour, he tore in his Opel Zafira via Utrecht to Breda, while the police tried to arrest him on several points. Officers made “inbox attempts”, driving on both sides of M. to force him to stop. That didn’t work. According to the judge, he rammed one or more police cars, crashed into them and cut them off.
In the courtroom, recordings are heard from one of the police cars: “This guy is completely crazy, maybe we should distance ourselves a bit.” The agents have wondered whether they would still come home, says the presiding judge in court. They feared for their lives. “That guy is tough, boy,” says a police officer after one of their cars has crashed into the guardrail. “We will regroup and redeploy.”
Why didn’t he just stop, M.’s judge wants to know. He thought the police were fake, says M. in court. He wears an ironed white shirt and talks with shame about what he has done. “My neighbor had told about an incident in Rotterdam six months before, in which people were taken away by the police and tortured,” he says. That story came to his mind when the police wanted to arrest him, he says. “Looking back, I am disgusted by my actions. This should not have happened. I have wasted the time of the police and the court.”
Kill me if you want
Mohammed M. at his arrest
At Breda, M. went off the road after a police car hit him from behind. “Are you completely crazy”, the agents bite M. when they work him on the ground and handcuff him. “Yes,” he says, “I am crazy.” And: “Just kill me if you want.” In the car, the officers find a bottle of liquor. M. has a much too high blood alcohol level. He is addicted, drinks thirty beers and several bottles of whiskey in a week, says the judge.
“Alcohol is a way for you to suppress past experiences.”
M. nods.
“You have a depressive disorder, but things got better for a while. But then your little brother died in a car accident a year ago. And I have read that you have a very difficult time with that.”
M. sobs, but doesn’t answer.
“I see you are getting emotional.”
Silence again. Talking about his little brother is difficult, says M.
“It could have ended much worse for the agents, but also for you. They thought they could crash at any moment at high speed.” It could also have ended much worse for himself, the judge tells M.. “I think you understand what I’m asking.”
Before the chase, M. had been with a friend to borrow money. He was broke because he had used up everything in a cafe, and therefore didn’t have enough money to buy his antidepressants, he says. M. had not taken his medication for a few days.
A psychiatrist who examined M. during his imprisonment thinks that there is a connection between M.’s actions and the sudden death of his little brother. M. may have suffered a trauma, which, in combination with his depressive disorder and alcohol consumption, led to the fear and suspicion when he was arrested. The psychiatrist thinks that M. was less responsible.
In the ruling, two weeks later, the judge says to have taken this into account. M. is sentenced to 30 months in prison, 10 months of which are suspended. He is banned from driving for three years.
A version of this article also appeared in the September 4, 2023 issue.