The Killing of Sammy Baker

<p>Sammy Baker visited Amsterdam in August 2020 to celebrate his 23rd birthday. On 10 August Sammy entered a psychosis which lasted for days, likely as a result of ingesting cannabis. On 13 August Sammy’s mother travelled to Amsterdam to help him; she was present, along with a friend of Sammy’s, at the time they first encountered the Amsterdam Police. Sammy, still in psychosis and apparently distressed by the appearance of police officers, ran away. The foot chase which followed began a series of events which led quickly to Sammy’s death.</p> <p>Sammy was carrying a small, legal, pocket knife, with which he repeated tried to cut himself during the encounter. According to the Amsterdam Police, Sammy was shot to death after attempting to stab an officer with the pocket knife. The public prosecutor for the Netherlands, known as the <em>Openbaar Ministrie</em> or OM, declined to charge the officers, concluding that they acted in self-defence.</p> <p>However, video evidence suggests the story is more complex, and Amsterdam’s Chief of Police later admitted that no damage was found on any of the officers’ protective vests.</p>