diff --git a/RTCP/Run/src/IONProcessing.sh b/RTCP/Run/src/IONProcessing.sh
index 3b742c49a2dfd05270263b639d2964ab9c077ae8..f53e822b0902d3e97a6e51af7c94370c3cc59568 100755
--- a/RTCP/Run/src/IONProcessing.sh
+++ b/RTCP/Run/src/IONProcessing.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ function stop() {
   alarm 10 gracefullyStopBGProcessing.sh
 
   # ungraceful exit
-  [ -e /proc/$PID ] && kill -15 "$PID" && (sleep 2; kill -9 "$PID")
+  [ -e /proc/$PID ] && kill -15 "$PID" && (sleep 2; [ -e /proc/$PID ] && kill -9 "$PID")
 }
 
 . controller.sh