Foolishness goes wrong

Bullet hits fan bus! Police officer goes on trial

After a shot was fired from a service weapon a year ago, a police officer now had to stand trial.(Bild: Corgarashu/stock.adobe.com, X/FanhilfeMg)

A German police officer has now had to stand trial in the case of a pistol projectile that landed in a fan bus of German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach last summer.

Background: During a match between FC Augsburg and the "foals", the police officers on duty had had a water pistol fight outside the stadium for fun. However, the banter got out of hand when an officer's service weapon discharged, narrowly missing the head of one of his colleagues but smashing through the windshield of a police car. One police officer was slightly injured by the spatter and a Mönchengladbach fan bus was also hit.

According to an officer at the scene, the accused had mistaken the water pistol for his service weapon. In court, the 28-year-old declared that he was ashamed of the incident: "That was unprofessional, such a water game in the field with sharp equipment." 

Memory gap
However, he could not remember firing the shot at all. "I didn't think anything because I wasn't even warned that I had the gun in my hand," the accused defended himself. A verdict is still pending, but could be handed down as early as Thursday.