Dutch King Willem-Alexander has personally apologized for a royal snafu that saw a DJ and his pals wrongfully arrested after they drove on the same route as Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia.
The terrifying ordeal reportedly saw Serginio Piqué, a Black man, get pulled over abruptly by armed men in balaclavas as he drove in central Antwerp on a Friday evening this month.
Piqué claimed he was ordered out of his car and onto the asphalt, where he and his buds were forced to keep their feet crossed and their hands on their heads until they were handcuffed, reported the NL Times.
The men said they were then ushered into a van and whisked away to be interviewed for more than an hour. That revealed they weren’t kidnappers as authorities originally feared, so they were let go.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander traveled to Paris to support his countrymen in the Olympic Games earlier this month.
Arturo Holmes/Reuters
The Daily Mail reported that Willem-Alexander personally apologized to the wrongfully detained group this week and acknowledged they’d “become victims.”
Piqué’s attorney, Vito Shukrula, told local media on Thursday that he was called by the personal spokesperson for the Dutch Royal House.
“She told us that the King—King Willem Alexander—wants us to know that the Dutch Royal house understands how deeply frightening this experience must have been for my client and his friends,” Shukrula said. “The King wanted to let us know that he gives his sympathy on behalf of the Royal house.”
Shukrula added that the spokesperson said the mens’ detainment was “an unfortunate consequence of the need to protect the royal house.”
The incident took place on Aug. 2 at the end of a 100-mile drive from Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, to Antwerp, in Belgium. Reports said Piqué had unknowingly been driving behind Catharina-Amalia, the 20-year-old heir to the Dutch throne, the entire way.
Princess Catharina-Amalia, 20, is the heir apparent to the throne in the Netherlands.
Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters
Belgian authorities reportedly told Piqué that they were asked by Dutch authorities to pull them over because they feared the group was attempting to abduct Catharina-Amalia.
Piqué reportedly said Belgian officers were upset they used such force for a false alarm. He said the officer reportedly told the group as they released them, “Go and enjoy Antwerp, you have a good story to tell at Christmas.”
In interviews about the ordeal, Piqué said he initially feared his race contributed to why he’d been abruptly pulled over and handcuffed.
“You start to wonder if there was perhaps ethnic profiling involved,” he told NOS. “That is a feeling that every person of color experiences when they are wrongfully stopped.”
Piqué told the outlet he’s still confused at why such an extreme reaction was needed.
“They could have searched our car and we would have been done in two minutes,” he said.
