An American man was sentenced Friday to 7 years in prison and mandatory TBS treatment for assaulting two police officers, the Dagblad van he Noorden reports.
Eric Jeffrey T., 33, stabbed one officer in the face and another in the leg during a routine curfew check on Van Houtenlaan in the south of the city in March 2021. The incident happened when the cops attempted to check why two young men were cycling without lights during the national coronavirus curfew. The officers were taken to a hospital where they were treated for serious injuries.
Eric Jeffrey T. and his partner fled to France where they were arrested on Dutch police request.
During a court hearing in July, T. confessed to the assault, but said he was afraid that his partner, Justin de G. (22), with whom he was cycling that evening and who had no ID card, would be sent back to a mental health institution if caught by the police. Justin de G., a Winschoten resident, had been systematically abused and mistreated by psychiatric clinics, T. claimed during the hearing in Groningen. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) charged T. with attempted murder and aggravated assault. The OM also demanded a sentence of 117 days for de G., but the court acquitted him.
The Pieter Baan forensic psychiatric center conducted the examination of the defendant and concluded that he suffers from a mental disorder and needs to undergo treatment to avoid future incidents. It is not clear if Eric T. will be allowed to serve his prison term in the United States.
