Illegal breed suspected: Berlin terror accident claims two lives

Wednesday, February 03, 2021

Suspicion of illegal race
Berlin terror accident takes two lives

In Berlin, a car runs off the road, collides with a container and breaks down. Two young passengers die, one is seriously injured. The alleged driver also survived. He is still detained at the hospital. Investigators accuse him of an illegal auto race.

In a serious accident in Berlin, a four-person car crashed into a construction container in Berlin-Treptow with such force that it broke and caught fire. Two young men were killed in the horrific accident Tuesday night, one immediately and one later in a clinic. Another man was injured; he is in the hospital with severe burns. At first, the police and the prosecutor announced that this man had also died. They then corrected their information and apologized.

The alleged driver also survived the accident. The 21-year-old was arrested at the hospital, prosecutors and police said. An arrest warrant has been requested against the alleged perpetrator of the accident. He is charged with negligent manslaughter and illegal auto racing. He will be brought before a judge on Wednesday.

“That was such a disturbing image,” said Dennis Passlack of the Berlin fire brigade. There was a wrecked car and a dead person in the car. “Three wounded lay on the sidewalk.” About 80 workers were deployed.

Between 19 and 21 years

For investigators, the beginning of the horrific accident was according to the announcement so far: the car with four occupants between 19 and 21 years old was running down the street. The driver lost control of the car before a crossing and crashed into the trees in the street with great force before the vehicle exploded and burned. One of the passengers was severely burned and died at a clinic Wednesday morning. According to the police, a pedestrian had witnessed the accident. He suffered a concussion and had to be treated, fire department spokesman Passlack said.

Car racing is not uncommon in the capital. According to information from Berlin criminal investigator Andreas Winkelmann, 1,500 criminal proceedings were initiated between October 2017 and October 2020, including those against unknown persons. 300 sprinting runners have been legally convicted. In the investigator’s experience, it is mostly young men between the ages of 20 and 35 who rent heavily motorized cars and who would not think of being caught in a “rush” or endangering others.

Many road races, mostly short, would be held at night or over the weekend. In October 2017, illegal car racing went from being an administrative offense to a criminal offense. Since then, participation in these races can be punished with up to two years in prison. Before that, there were only fines. The new paragraph 315d of the penal code also provides for up to ten years in prison if the death of another person is caused by a “prohibited motor vehicle race”.