Man who threw cabinet minister into snowdrift was off-duty police officer
Mauri Pekkarinen
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The man who pushed Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre Party) into a snowdrift at the Ylläs ski-resort in Lapland just over a week ago was an off-duty police sergeant, it was revealed on Friday.
The police officer, in his early thirties, sought to resign from the force immediately after the incident.
He was serving in the police department of the Enontekiö area in the far north-western corner of Finnish Lapland.
The incident took place on at around midnight on Friday February 8th outside the Taiga Restaurant in Ylläs.
The man, who was drunk at the time, attacked the minister, who ended up on his back in a snowdrift.
According to reports in the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, the assailant was angry with Pekkarinen over the closure of the Stora Enso pulp mill in Kemijärvi, and presumably over the government’s failure to do anything about it.
After the assault, he ran off before the restaurant security staff arrived on the scene. Pekkarinen was not injured in the incident.
The Lapland Region Chief Constable Pentti Saira confirmed on Friday that the man who pushed Pekkarinen over was an off-duty officer, who had earlier in the day been at a workplace health promotion seminar in Ylläs along with colleagues.
Saira said that the man had drawn his own conclusions after the assault, concerning his suitability for police work.
"I told him I respected his decision. The officer deeply regrets what he did, and that his actions were not those becoming a policeman."
Since the man who shoved Minister Pekkarinen into the snow was at the time officially a police officer, in order to avoid conflict of interest Saira transferred any further action in the matter to the Northern Division of the National Bureau of Investigation, Finland’s central criminal police.
The Rovaniemi district prosecutor Arto Mäkinen commented on Friday that he would decide after the weekend whether any case would be made over the assault.
Pekkarinen, who did not wish to comment on the incident, has no demands in the matter.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 18.2.2008 - TODAY |
 Man who threw cabinet minister into snowdrift was off-duty police officer |
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