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Fabien Martini smiles from a photo in room 135 of the Berlin Criminal Court. It is the radiant smile of a young woman who seems happy. Your mother brought the photo and placed it on the table in front of her in a frame. He has positioned it so that the accused and the court can clearly see his daughter. Fabien was 21 years old. He died on January 29, 2018.
Chief Inspector Peter G., 53, is now liable for wrongful death before the Berlin-Tiergarten District Court. During a mission with blue lights and a siren, he is said to have run out of a tunnel near Alexanderplatz in Berlin-Mitte around 1pm that day. His car collided with Fabien’s car. The young woman had changed lanes to park in one of the parking lots in the middle of the street.
The prosecution accuses the police of driving too fast. Although it was difficult for him to see the course of the road after the tunnel and had to deal with cross traffic at all times, he continued the journey “at an inappropriate speed”.
Peter G. sits on the bench in a hunched over position. He keeps his black mask on his face. On behalf of his client, defense attorney Jens Grygier addresses Fabien’s parents after the charges have been read. Peter G. is “very, very close” to the terrible accident, he says. I was “very, very” about what had happened.
“I thought the car was about to take off”
Anna T., 33, was working at the registry office in Berlin-Mitte at the time. During his lunch break, he wanted to go to the canteen at the Rotes Rathaus. Around 1 pm he crossed the multi-lane Grunerstraße near Alexanderplatz. He reached the parking lane in the middle of the street, looked around, the street seemed clear. To his right he saw “a girl” who tried to park in a white Renault Clio, according to the witness in court.
From somewhere he heard a silent police siren. He took two or three steps toward the road, toward the Red City Hall. And suddenly she heard the siren again, this time “very loud”, as she says. “I thought the car was about to take off. I have never seen a car go through the city so fast.” She recoiled in shock. “I managed to get back into the parking lot,” says the witness. “A second later and it would have been under the car.”
The police car pushed the white Clio a few feet in front of it. The tires rolled on the road. “I went to the car. I wanted to get the girl out of the car, but the door wouldn’t open.” He tried it from the passenger side but failed, someone came to his aid. The girl was buckled up, Anna T. couldn’t unbuckle the belt. “The girl seemed unharmed,” she says, not conscious.
She decided to get a first aid kit, Anna T. says, she tried to stop passing cars, but no one stopped. Suddenly there were people everywhere. Someone managed to get Fabien out of the car. With a female police officer who had appeared at the scene in the meantime and other helpers, he took the young woman in charge.
“It was a huge field of debris,” says a policeman who was the first to reach the crash site. When he saw the destroyed cars, he wondered, “How fast was it?”
Presiding judge Sascha Daue asks how fast police officers with flashing lights and sirens can drive into the city. “70 to 80 km / h”, says the police officer, “if it does.” The following applies to each mission: “Danger from others must be excluded.” He later drove the route of the accident himself. His impression: “When you come out of the tunnel, you don’t see anything at first.” The place is difficult to see. “It is a confusing matter for me.”
His anger with the accused is enormous
Attorney Philipp Appelt represents Fabien’s mother, who is a joint plaintiff at the trial. Ask the police witness if he has inquired about Peter G.’s possible use of alcohol. “No,” says the witness, “there was no indication that alcohol could play a role”. The defendant’s patient record is said to show that Peter G. may have been under the influence of alcohol that day. The prosecution had the files confiscated. An illegal process, as the court determined in advance. The results from the file cannot be used in the process.
Fabien’s mother suffers in silence. You can see the pain. She cries and sits slumped in her chair. Fabien’s father is completely different. It seems almost defiant how he lifts his chin and looks directly at the accused. Outside the hallway, he says he’s using all his strength not to panic. His anger with Peter G. is enormous. He has no regrets about him. “He is reckless. He doesn’t regret anything,” says the father as tears come to his eyes. “He just regrets being on the bench.”
