Dutch police officer stabbed, attacker shot

It’s hard to believe sometimes that there is a world that exists away from coronavirus. Yet, in a departure from pandemic news, a Dutch police officer has been stabbed in an unexpected attack this afternoon. 

The attack took place in the town of Haghorst, southeast of Tilburg. Police received a report around 12:30 pm that a man was walking around with knives.

When police officers arrived at the scene, the 22-year-old man from Poland stabbed one of the officers. Police officers fired a warning shot, hoping to stop the attacker, but he persisted. Police officers then shot directly at the suspect in an attempt to apprehend him.

The attacker was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The police officer who was stabbed is reported to be “slightly injured” and has been treated in hospital.

State police and forensics teams are now on-site to investigate the incident.

When can a police officer shoot?

In the Netherlands, police officers can shoot to arrest a suspect thought to have committed a serious offence like armed robbery, attempted manslaughter, or murder.

Police officers are trained in a tactic called “apprehension fire,” where they first shoot a suspects legs. If the situation is so serious that there is a risk of death for bystanders or the police officer, the agent can aim at the suspect’s upper body instead.

Feature Image: Oxyman/Wikimedia Commons

Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺https://gallivantations.com
Sam has over six years experience writing about life in the Netherlands and leads the content team at DutchReview. She originally came to the Netherlands to study in 2016 and now holds a BA (Hons.) in Arts, a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and (almost) a Masters in Teaching. She loves to write about settling into life in the Netherlands, her city of Utrecht, learning Dutch, and jobs in the Netherlands — and she still can’t jump on the back of a moving bike (she's learning!).

1 COMMENT

  1. Its hard to believe !! I am gonna research and read about the crime rates in Netherlands! I’m not feeling very safe at this point!! Just yesterday night, someone drove their car right into my parked motorcycle. Yeah parked motorcycle! They drove right into it so hard that the locked bike moved and obviously there was damage and the driver just drove away!! I didn’t expect these things will happen in the Netherlands!!

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