Prosecutor rules out investigation after police fire at fleeing vehicle

Yle reports that a prosecutor will not open a preliminary investigation into police use of a firearm during a pursuit in Pyhäntä, in North Ostrobothnia.

Police tried to stop the vehicle during traffic enforcement to check whether the driver was fit to drive. The driver ignored the order and fled. Police had earlier said the chase posed considerable danger to other traffic.

According to the National Prosecution Authority, officers placed a spike strip on a forest road with no homes or bystanders nearby. The vehicle stopped several hundred metres before the strip, and police warned the driver that they might use force. The driver then continued, going around the stopping point via the roadside.

An officer fired two shots from close range with a service weapon, aiming at the vehicle’s right front tyre. The shots did not hit the vehicle, and the driver continued before stopping on their own after several tens of kilometres. No one was injured.

The authority said the decision to threaten the use of a firearm and fire the shots was not made by a senior police officer. The prosecutor leading the case found no reason to suspect a crime and said the police response was proportionate to the danger.