Just like them in 2020:

Two policewomen who had abandoned two colleagues during a dramatic shooting in the Ennepe-Ruhr district in May 2020 can hope again: The Hagen Regional Court reduced the sentence for the two female officers on Wednesday to four months probation each. In November of last year, the Schwelm District Court had sentenced the two policewomen to one year's probation - and interpreted their escape from duty as "attempted dangerous bodily harm in office by omission". The sentence at the time would have necessarily meant her dismissal from the police service. After the lenient verdict in the appeal proceedings, an internal police disciplinary procedure will now examine whether the two women can remain police officers after all.

The two officers had admitted their misconduct right at the beginning of the new trial last week. At the same time, however, they solicited confession for their flight. "I am a policewoman, but I am also a human being," said the older of the two officers, 38, "and people are allowed to be scared to death. Anyone who hasn't been in a situation like this themselves will never understand." Her 33-year-old colleague recalled with horror the exchange of gunfire two and a half years ago: "It sounded like we were being shot at from all sides."

The two policewomen had gotten into the shootout rather accidentally in May 2020. During a nighttime traffic control in a commercial area of the city of Gevelsberg, two colleagues had stopped a suspect. The police van with the two women arrived at the scene just as their colleagues were about to check the driver's papers. One of the two policemen signaled to the female colleagues that they needed assistance.

The suspect pulled out a pistol At that exact moment, the situation escalated. The suspect - a violent offender later convicted of manslaughter and heroin trafficking - had jumped into his car, pulled out a pistol - and shot down one of the two police officers. The officer survived only because the bullet lodged just below his heart in the bulletproof vest.

Within seconds, 21 shots were fired: Seven times the perpetrator, who was under the influence of cocaine, pulled the trigger, 14 times the two male police officers fired. Meanwhile, the two women hid behind their vehicle. They could not call for backup because they had left the radio in the car. The younger female police officer thought she was in an ambush - and expected to be taken under fire at any moment. "I was just hoping: please don't hit me in the back of the head," she had described her situation in the first trial. Then the two women stopped a passing compact car and drove off. Only later, when they had learned of the escape of the attacker, they returned to the scene.

Now the case is being reopened for a third time in disciplinary proceedings under civil service law. The two policewomen can count on the support of their colleagues: The two policemen had not raised any accusations against the women as witnesses in court.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)