Huddinge district court sentenced the officers to three months’ imprisonment for the assault, which was caught on film by a security camera.
However, the Svea Court of Appeal decided that the camera’s still pictures should be “interpreted with great care” since there was a significant time interval between them.
What happened in the moments between the different pictures should not have been interpreted to the police officers’ disadvantage if there was no evidence to support that, wrote the court.
The court concluded that while the witnesses were trustworthy, their credibility was undermined by the fact that their stories conflicted.
Certain witnesses said they did not see the old man hit the officers, but others said they did.
TT/The Local