Geronimo Rier, a 24-year-old man from Hoogkerk, will be compensated for damage done to his scooter when police shot it in April of 2017.
Translation by Traci White
According to Dagblad van het Noorden, the police fired four shots at close range at the scooter in Hoogkerk. The police reportedly thought that Rier matched the description of a suspect the police were pursuing, but Rier was not the person they were looking for. Rier was not injured, but two bullets hit the scooter and caused 800 euros worth of damage.
Rier filed a formal complaint following the incident but did not receive any response from the police for a year and a half. The cops involved in the shooting stood trial last week for charges of attempted grievous bodily harm. The court found that the officers were not justified in using their weapons.
On Wednesday, the Dagblad published a story featuring Rier’s side of the story. The defence claimed in the courtroom that he had driven toward the police at high speed, but Rier says that he was coming around a curve and had slowed down, and that the police shot at him as he was riding away.
Rier said that the police had never reached out to him with an apology or any offers to pay him for the damage to his property. Following the publication of the story, the police finally contacted Rier and said they would compensate him for the costs incurred. A spokesperson for the police told the Dagblad, “This should have happened much sooner, I don’t know why it didn’t.”
