A Swedish policeman has been charged for chasing a driver in his spare time. He believed it required his wife to drive at 200 km/h.
A police officer has been charged after letting his wife drive 200 km/h on a Swedish motorway. The incident took place on the E18 west of Karlstad, where the off-duty police officer was sitting in the passenger seat of his private car while his wife was driving.
The couple caught sight of a driver speeding. Shortly after, the policeman asked his wife to follow and catch up with him. According to the policeman's own notes, the speed reached over 200 km/h.
West of Karlstad, the couple managed to get the driver to stop. The driver told the media outlet NWT that a woman was cutting the car and that in addition to the policeman in the passenger seat, she also had a child in a car seat with her.
The incident took place in September last year, and now both the policeman and his wife have been charged. The case is being handled by the Special Prosecution Authority, which handles internal investigations when police officers are suspected of crimes.
This is reported by the news agency NWT .
The policeman is charged with misconduct in office. While his wife is charged with driving 90 km/h too fast on a 110-km/h road. According to the prosecution, she was driving 200 km/h.
The policeman has confirmed what happened during questioning. But he denies having done anything wrong. He believes that his actions were justified when he tried to stop a dangerous driver.
The case has sparked a stir in Sweden, where there is debate about whether the policeman's actions were proportionate to the situation. Some believe he acted correctly to prevent a potential accident, while others believe he put the lives of others at risk by letting his wife drive so fast.
The outcome of the case is still unknown. But it raises important questions about the powers and responsibilities of the police when they are not on duty. Conversely, it is difficult to track the police when they are already driving on the roads in connection with their work.
Back home, a police officer was acquitted in January of last year of briefly killing an elderly woman in a Subaru Forrester. The Roskilde District Court did not find anything to be done. Read more about the case here .
