Seven months in prison

Drunk driver (36) raced towards police officers

Because he didn't want to lose his license again, a 36-year-old man from Linz had a wild chase. A police officer had to jump to the side and injured his cervical spine. The 36-year-old was brought to justice at Steyr Provincial Court on Tuesday.

Alcohol lowers the inhibition threshold and sometimes leads to increased aggression and overconfidence. All this left a 36-year-old unimpressed on the evening of February 8th, he nevertheless got behind the wheel of his car drunk and drove through Steyr (Upper Austria). During a speed check, he was clocked at 84 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, whereupon the police took up the chase.

Speeding towards police officers
When they tried to stop him, the 36-year-old apparently saw red: "I was just so scared that I would lose my license again. It just flipped a switch and I stepped on the gas and wanted to drive off," says the Linz native. The judge wanted to know why he had lost his license back then. "Because of a similar story, also speeding and driving off!" said the defendant unabashedly. But legally he was blameless.

You weren't that intoxicated. Did you really think it was worth it to go on such a long and wild chase through the whole city?

Richterin

Not heavily intoxicated
The judge told him once again that he "only" had 0.68 per mille in his blood. "You weren't that intoxicated, did you really think it was worth it to go on such a long and wild chase through the whole city?" The defendant denied this. 

"Wild rampage through Steyr"
First he rammed into a police car, causing damage worth over 5000 euros. One of the police officers was injured in the hand. He repeatedly held off the officers, but continued to speed through the city, sometimes at speeds of up to 140 km/h, even through 30 km/h zones.

Finally, in order to avoid a roadblock, he steered into a crash barrier - behind it was a police officer who had to jump to safety. However, he suffered whiplash and injuries to his cervical spine, which is why he was on sick leave until the end of May and has been on internal service to date. 

Many accusations
As a result, today, Tuesday, July 16, he had to answer to the Steyr Regional Court for grievous bodily harm, grossly negligent endangerment of physical safety, grievous damage to property and resisting public authority. The man from Linz, who defended himself in court, fully confessed. He expressed his remorse several times and also apologized to all the police officers present. "Of course I confessed, what can I say, I was driving the car," was his justification. "I could give myself a slap on the wrist today, that was such a stupid action!"

I could give myself a slap on the wrist today, that was such a stupid action.

Der Angeklagte vor Gericht

Verdict 
But it was more than a "stupid action", which was also reflected in the sentence: a conditional prison sentence of seven months and 180 daily rates of 38 euros each, i.e. a total of 6840 euros. In addition, all were awarded damages for pain and suffering totaling around 5500 euros. "I hope that you have learned something today and that you won't be sitting in front of a judge again soon for driving like this!" the judge concluded by telling the speeding driver.