Blows, pepper spray

Fists fly in extended family: police officers injured

Who has priority? This question triggered a heated argument in an extended family split between two cars. It was only when the police turned up that the six men got together and attacked the uniformed officers. Two officers had to go to hospital.

Apparently it doesn't take much for the fuses of six relatives from the Lower Austrian districts of Gmünd and Zwettl to blow. The 18 to 39-year-old men demonstrated this impressively on Friday afternoon in Waidhofen an der Thaya.

Trigger at the traffic circle
The extended family was split between two cars when one driver gave way to the other at the traffic circle near the warehouse. The situation quickly escalated and they decided to meet at the adjacent shopping center to discuss the matter. Words soon turned into deeds, however. T-shirts were torn up and punches were thrown. Witnesses finally called the emergency services.

Officers attacked immediately
However, when the first police officers arrived, the brawlers spontaneously joined forces again. First two of them and then a little later all six attacked the two officers and knocked them to the ground. Both had to be taken to hospital later with injuries. They are on sick leave for the time being.

The alerted reinforcements in the form of six more patrol cars were also received extremely aggressively. The men could only be arrested using pepper spray and physical force. They were taken to the police station for questioning and were released shortly afterwards by order of the public prosecutor's office. They have to answer for resisting arrest.