The public prosecution office is to start legal procedures against eight police officers for using disproportionate force resulting in the death of a man shortly after being taken into custody.

The man, a 32-year-old man, was arrested in Rotterdam in June last year following an incident in which he had collided with a car while riding his bike.

According to the police, the man became “difficult to handle” and ran off. Police then chased him and used a taser to bring him “under control”, they said. The man, according to the police, then became unwell as ambulance staff were called to the scene. He later died in hospital.

A subsequent investigation by the Dutch forensic institute found that the death of the man had been attributable to the actions of the officers, all eight of whom took turns to restrain the man, the public prosecution department said.

“We have waited a long time for this decision,” lawyer Richard Korver, who represents relatives of the victim, told broadcaster NOS. “The relatives would not have accepted another outcome. We hope the judge’s decision will not take this long,” he said.

The arrest was filmed by a camera crew who had accompanied the officers on the job. “The footage helped to clarify what happened,” Korver said. “It showed that eight officers took it in turn to hold the man to the ground.”

The officers are being prosecuted under the new legal rule of proportionality which was added to the police code in 2022. If found guilty, the men could face a penalty of three years in jail. It is the first time it is being used, police expert Jaap Timmer said.

“Before this article came into place, officers would have been prosecuted for manslaughter or serious assault resulting in death, which carry a far greater penalty,” he said.

Police union APC spokesman Ramon Meijerink said it had been a long wait for relatives and officers alike. “Police officers act according to their conscience and that is what these eight officers have done. It is up to the court to establish if they did so according to the rules,” he said.