The parents of Sammy Baker, who was killed by Amsterdam police officers in 2020, are not giving up: With the help of several expert reports, they want to force criminal prosecution of the perpetrators.

On August 13, 2020, 23-year-old Sammy Baker from Gießen was shot dead by police in Amsterdam. His parents have agreed to a settlement in civil proceedings in the Netherlands and are receiving partial reimbursement of their legal costs. On Tuesday, however, they initiated a so-called Article 12 procedure to force criminal prosecution of the officers involved. This could make the case, which sparked a debate about police violence in the Netherlands and Germany five years ago, a political issue once again.

Baker, then student and well-known fitness influencer, had been celebrating his birthday in the Dutch capital. After consuming cannabis, he fell into a psychological crisis. His mother Justine Seewald-Krieger traveled there with an acquaintance and found her son in Amsterdam-West. When a passing police officer was asked for help, Baker ran away, distressed and barefoot.

The pursuit involving a total of eight officers ended in a fenced courtyard, where Baker was handling a knife at his neck and wrists. A police dog handler approached from behind – against orders from his superiors – brought the young man to the ground, then two officers shot him. The then Amsterdam police chief claimed that Baker had stabbed one of the officers with a knife in his vest – a lie, as the authorities later had to admit themselves.

The Prosecutor’s Office had nevertheless closed the case against the perpetrators nine months later – justifying this with self-defense. The parents then commissioned Forensic Architecture with an independent investigation. The research group led by Israeli Eyal Weizmann investigates state acts of violence and confirmed that the self-defense thesis in the Sammy Baker case is untenable.

The team analyzed video recordings from residents of the area and created a 3D model of the course of events. The findings: Baker had been in an “almost catatonic state” and moved so slowly that even a police dog walked past him. Three officers claimed that the dog handler had fallen to the ground with Baker and was in danger – however, the video analysis proves that he remained standing.

Shortly before his death, Baker was lying on his back – this is evidenced by the shooting angles and injury patterns from the autopsy report. “The officers could have stepped back at any time and removed themselves from any potential danger,” concludes Forensic Architecture. Although the emergency forces apparently recognized that Baker was experiencing psychosis, arriving paramedics were not allowed to provide him with psychiatric or medical help.

A investigation report by a political scientist commissioned as part of the civil proceedings also concluded in early 2023 that the police officers were themselves responsible for the escalation. The results were confidential – in a later published version, the tone was significantly milder.

Sammy’s parents expressed being “stunned” at the time about the changed expert report; the process fueled their doubts about the neutrality of the Amsterdam civil court. That’s why they agreed to the settlement with the police, explained Sammy’s mother Justine Seewald-Krieger. However, a condition was being able to continue criminal proceedings against the police officers involved in the operation.

This criminal enforcement procedure is no longer directed against the institution of police, but against the two shooters, the dog handler, and the operation leader. The basis is the investigation by Forensic Architecture, an expert report by German Professor Thomas Feltes, as well as two expert reports by a sociologist and a psychologist from the Netherlands. “With this evidence, we hope that the officers will be held accountable,” Seewald-Krieger tells “nd”.

The parents would also take action against the prosecutor’s office in Amsterdam, which still claims on its homepage that Baker stabbed an officer in the vest with a knife. A complaint about such false claims against the then police chief has already been won. “Nevertheless, the prosecutor’s office has not wanted to update its homepage – with the result that journalists continue to copy untruths from there,” criticizes Baker’s mother.

Published in German in ‘nd’.

Image: In this position, Sammy Baker was shot. Previously, even a police dog had walked past the young man who was standing calmly (Forensic Architecture).