Germany: Two officers dismissed for fleeing colleagues during shooting
Münster Administrative Court has ordered the dismissal of two female traffic police officers who fled the scene in Gevelsberg in 2020 instead of helping colleagues as a gunman fired 21 shots at them.
RastinewsTwo German policewomen who fled a shooting scene, leaving their colleagues behind, have been dismissed from the force by court order.
The Münster Administrative Court ruled on Monday that the two officers, who abandoned colleagues during an armed confrontation in Gevelsberg in the southern Ruhr region in May 2020, must be dismissed from civil service for "dereliction of duty." The court said this was the harshest disciplinary penalty available in the case.
Prison sentences were suspended
The police force the officers served in had filed a disciplinary case seeking their dismissal. The court accepted the case following a closed hearing held on Monday.
In autumn 2022, the two officers were sentenced to four months in prison, suspended, for attempted negligent bodily harm while on duty.
Both officers retain the right to appeal the rulings before the Higher Administrative Court.
The officers had come across a traffic stop in Gevelsberg in 2020. During the stop, a driver opened fire on two traffic police officers, firing 21 shots within seconds; one of the officers survived only because of a bulletproof vest.
The two officers, then aged 32 and 37, stopped a passing car and fled the scene instead of helping their colleagues. The criminal proceedings noted that the officers had not fired a warning shot and only later notified the police station of what had happened.
Kaynak:DW