Pelted with Fireworks
While police officers were attending to a fire involving two cars at Salieveld in Haarlem, they were pelted with heavy fireworks. These exploded in their immediate vicinity. After the officers looked back in shock, they saw a man making a throwing motion and very heavy fireworks exploded again. After a foot chase, they were able to catch and arrest the fleeing man. He resisted arrest vigorously. During his search, 20 so-called nitrates were found and confiscated. The police officers filed a report for attempted grievous bodily harm. One of the reports contains the following passage: “I find it terrible that we as emergency workers, while simply trying to do our job, are attacked in this way. It gives an unsafe and frightening feeling that we cannot perform our work in a normal and safe manner.
I find it cowardly that people deliberately try to harm us, while we are committed to helping others. At literal risk to our own lives, we run after the youths who try to hurt us.
Even worse, I find it that we cannot tell this at home, because our families are already anxious whether we will come home safely during shifts, especially around New Years Eve. We tell our families that we are careful and come home safely, but we cannot always guarantee that. This is another example of how vulnerable we are during work.
I mainly feel sadness and powerlessness that this is the reality in which we do our work day in and day out just normally, and that the safety that goes with it is not a given.”
The suspect, a 27-year-old man from Hoofddorp, is in custody for questioning.
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If you have camera footage, tips, and/or other information, call the Crime Tip Line at 0800-6070 or share your information anonymously via 0800-7000.
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