After Rampage on A23: Vienna Police Hunt for the Mercedes Driver

The suspect "has already been identified due to intensive investigative work and was clearly recognized by the involved traffic police officers," reported police spokesman Philipp Haßlinger on Wednesday in response to an APA inquiry. After consultation with the Vienna public prosecutor's office, an arrest warrant was issued.

Shots Fired at Speeding Car in Vienna: Driver Known but Fugitive

The investigations by the Vienna State Criminal Police Office (LKA), Center-East branch, Group Schwarz, are ongoing, the spokesman emphasized. The driver of a Mercedes was reported by other road users on the Southeast Tangent (A23) at 6:15 PM for reckless driving. In the area of the exit ramp to the Eastern Motorway (A4), police officers were able to overtake the Mercedes and stop it by blocking the patrol car.

The officers got out to conduct the check. Suddenly, the car driver accelerated again and drove directly at them. One officer could only save himself by jumping to the side, but was grazed on the leg by the departing car. Both fired a total of about a dozen shots from their service weapons at the fleeing car, attempting to hit the tires.

Car Driver Disappeared After Chase: Manhunt

The car was shortly thereafter discovered on Modecenterstraße in the Landstraße district. Eyewitnesses had seen the driver flee into an office complex there. Since then, he has disappeared.

Not every fleeing car driver trying to evade a police check is an "amok driver," Haßlinger emphasized in response to related media reports. The incident primarily concerns "evading a stop," as described in the police release the previous day. In contrast, also on Monday in the German city of Mannheim, a car driver intentionally drove into people in a pedestrian zone, killing two and injuring eleven.

(APA/Red)

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