Image: Henrietta Hassinen / Yle

The Salpausselkä prosecutor's office has dropped charges of misconduct and involuntary manslaughter for a police officer who shot a man to death in Lahti last year. The prosecutor said that the officer had no other recourse and has thus been acquitted on grounds of self-defense.

The senior officer from the Helsinki police department shot a 30-year-old man three times in October, 2016 by the side of the motorway in Orimattila, near Lahti. The officer came upon the man in question as he was stabbing a woman repeatedly in a car following an altercation and a minor traffic accident.

The woman required and received hospital care after the attack.

The prosecutor said that the use of force was justified based on the unlawful attack on the woman, the viciousness and nature of the assault as well as the suddenness of the incident.

All uses of police firearms are investigated, but pretrial investigations are not necessarily begun. Prosecution and convictions are rare.