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Accused police officers in appeal proceedings before the district court in Hagen
Photo: Alex Talash / dpa
The appeal process against two policewomen has begun before the district court in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The women had been sentenced to suspended sentences by the Schwelm district court.
You are accused of collective attempted dangerous bodily harm in office through omission.
The police officers, who are now 33 and 38 years old, are said to have accidentally passed the crime scene near Gevelsberg in May 2020: Two colleagues had checked a driver during a traffic check and were unexpectedly shot at by him.
The officers returned fire.
But instead of rushing to the men's aid and calling for reinforcements, the policewomen are said to have parked their emergency vehicle nearby and left the scene - even though they had noticed the exchange of fire.
In addition, a colleague had already fallen to the ground, so it could be assumed that he had sustained serious injuries.
One year suspended sentence
The driver has already been sentenced to imprisonment.
The two officers were sentenced to one year's imprisonment on probation by the Schwelm district court in November.
In the event of a final conviction, they would have lost their civil servant status and would no longer be allowed to work as police officers.
However, they appealed the verdict.
In Hagen, the whole case was rolled up again.
On Monday, the two defendants described their view of what happened, a court spokesman said.
The videos recorded by the police car's dashcam were also viewed.
In addition, the court had listened to the radio messages from that night.
Finally, witnesses testified, including the second uninjured police officer.
The officer injured at the time is due to testify in a week's time on Wednesday.
Thanks to his bulletproof vest, he only suffered a severe hematoma and otherwise survived the exchange of fire physically unscathed, the spokesman said.
A decision is expected to be made on Wednesday.
ala/AFP/dpa
