Scuffle with consequences

Perpetrator bites: police officer of the year accused

In 2024, Kaltrin M. was voted Police Officer of the Year by Krone readers for his exceptional performance.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg, Peter Tomschi)

From "Police Officer of the Year" to the accused: Kaltrin M., Vienna's celebrated investigator who once convicted a brutal drug and people smuggler, suddenly found himself the target of the justice system after a scuffle with a burglar - wrongly, as it would later turn out. 

Because of his extraordinary achievements, which led to the arrest of a brutal drug and people smuggler, the "Krone" community voted him Police Officer of the Year in 2024. Kaltrin M. has already been nominated three times, making him a real role model officer. However, this April he found himself on the other side of the police interrogation.

Flippant excuse: "Just wanted to mow the lawn!"
On April 19, the Viennese man spent his day off at his second home in Lower Austria, visiting his mother. When the neighbor suddenly raised the alarm in broad daylight: someone was tampering with the fence of the detached house and had already broken out two wooden slats.

The 35-year-old reacted routinely: "I asked him what he was doing here. He said that he just wanted to mow the lawn. After I saw that he had already broken off two boards from the fence, I told him that I was from the police," Kaltrin M. stated - as the accused.

Lawyer Mirsad Musliu represented the officer.(Bild: Sophie Pratschner)

After this sentence, a wild scuffle broke out. During which the officer is said to have punched the burglar in the face. At least that's what he said after a spectacular pursuit by the police, which even forced train services on the western line to be paralyzed. "He approached me and attacked me head-on. He hit me twice in the face with his right fist," said the 22-year-old, who also told the police that he had only been there to mow the lawn.

I never hit him. There was only the scuffle where we both went to the ground.

Der Polizeibeamte Kaltrin M

Bite attack on officer
The 35-year-old officer was therefore investigated on suspicion of assault. He says: "I never hit him. There was only the scuffle where we both went to the ground." Before that, the man gave him a good bite wound.

However, his time as a defendant did not last long: four days later, the Romanian burglar seemed to have come to his senses. "I was walking around like a zombie. I was so drunk. I would like to say that I want to apologize." He had falsely incriminated Kaltrin M.