Parents of Sammy Baker, killed by police in Amsterdam in 2020, appeal against a ruling that lets prosecutors keep false claims online. Forensic evidence contradicts official version that the young German stabbed an officer’s vest after falling into a psychotic episode.

The parents of Sammy Baker, a 23-year-old from Wetzlar who was shot dead in Amsterdam in 2020, have lodged an appeal against a ruling by the District Court of The Hague. The judges had previously decided that the Amsterdam Public Prosecutor’s Office does not have to correct a press release on its website – even though it falsely states that Baker hit one of the police officers involved on his protective vest with a knife.

Three independent forensic investigations, however, found no damage to the vest whatsoever. The Public Prosecutor’s Office was aware of this before it issued the false statement and thereby claimed that the officers were acting in self-defence.

Reconstruction by Forensic Architecture

On 13 August 2020, the 23-year-old student and fitness influencer, who was living in Giessen at the time, was shot by police in Amsterdam-West. He had been celebrating his birthday in the Dutch capital.

After consuming cannabis, Baker fell into a psychotic episode. A chase involving eight officers ended in a courtyard, where Baker was holding a small pocket knife to his neck and wrists. A dog handler approached him from behind against his superior’s orders, brought him to the ground, and then two police officers shot him.

This sequence of events was reconstructed by the renowned institute Forensic Architecture.

Contradictory statements by an officer

The Public Prosecutor’s Office dropped the case against the officers nine months later, citing self-defence. On its website, it still states that Baker made “swiping and stabbing motions” and that “one of the officers was hit on his vest with the knife”. On the day of the incident, the officer himself had stated that the knife had missed his vest. Six days later, however, he claimed in his witness testimony that his vest had been perforated from top to bottom with the small pocket knife.

The District Court saw no reason to correct the prosecutor’s account on the website: it was “sufficiently supported by the facts available at the time of publication”. Sammy Baker’s mother, Justine Seewald-Krieger, explicitly contradicted this when asked by the nd.

The family’s Dutch lawyer also described the ruling to the “Mittelhessische Zeitung” as “disappointing with regard to how our submitted points were taken on board”. The question, she said, was whether the Public Prosecutor’s Office may leave a publication unchanged online even though it presents a “fact that is material and burdensome for the family incorrectly as an established fact”. This was incompatible with the public prosecutor’s duty of care and the interests of the bereaved as appellants, the lawyer added.

Forced prosecution proceedings still ongoing

The Dutch organisation Controle Alt Delete, which documents cases of police violence in the Netherlands, sharply criticised the District Court’s ruling: even if one were of the opinion that the original publication did not have to be removed, the court could at least have considered whether the Ministry of Justice was obliged to supplement the text with information that later came to light. Leaving the original account unchanged without any supplement or contextualisation creates an incomplete and misleading picture of the fatal shooting of Sammy Baker, the durch civil rights organisation explains.

In autumn 2025, Baker’s parents filed an application for a so-called ‘Article 12 procedure’ under the Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure. This is intended to compel the judicial prosecution of the two officers who fired the shots, the dog handler and the incident commander.

This proceeding has not yet begun. Baker’s mother Seewald-Krieger suspects that a decision lies with the Advocate General. They may be waiting for the outcome of the appeal proceedings concerning the correction of the public prosecutor’s false account.

Published in German in „nd“.

Image: Amsterdam police officers after the shots fired at Sammy Baker (Forensic Architecture).