Excuse after an accident

“I was given the license plates as a gift”

A 19-year-old from the Innviertel region of Austria was at a loss for an excuse when he crashed a sleek BMW in Braunau, Upper Austria, and then fled the scene with his friends. The license plates on the powerful car had been stolen - but he claims to have known nothing about it.

There was a crash at the "Mäci traffic circle" in Braunau shortly before midnight on Saturday night. A BMW had rammed into a small VW, fortunately causing only material damage.

But the occupants of the BMW had made off, leaving the car behind. Witnesses had seen four boys running off in the direction of Laaber Holzweg.

Fled before being checked
When the police arrived at the scene of the accident, they immediately "clicked" because they knew the BMW: They had tried to stop him, or rather the driver, shortly before, but he had driven off.

The four fleeing lads were quickly found in the darkness. A 19-year-old from Andrichsfurt stated that he had been driving - the breathalyzer showed 0.54 per mille. He didn't have a driver's license anyway and the license plates on the car were stolen: "Someone gave them to me months ago," said the suspected hit-and-run driver.

Suspected theft
He and his passengers (19 and 21 years old) from Hohenzell and Aurolzmünster are also suspected of theft because a construction site sign was found in the car.