On June 30, 2021, the 36-year-old crashed his car into an oncoming car on Felbertauernstraße near Mittersill. Its 70-year-old driver died and his 69-year-old wife was seriously injured. Karl is accused of negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm.
Born in Lower Austria and living in East Tyrol, he was on his way home from a training session. According to the criminal complaint of the Salzburg public prosecutor, Karl is said to have driven through a gallery at excessive speed in bad weather. When exiting the gallery, the road was covered with hail. The accused had skidded in violation of the requirement to drive on sight, it said. The Audi of the top athlete slid into the oncoming lane and crashed into the oncoming jeep of the couple from Pinzgau. According to the emergency services, there was a sudden fall in the weather with heavy rain and hail in the accident area.
From the point of view of the defense, Karl is not criminally guilty, as his lawyer Oscar Weiß explained in early April. The tragic accident could not have been prevented because of a sudden hailstorm. Karl’s car was said to be unable to maneuver when exiting the gallery.
According to media reports, the athlete sought psychological help after the accident in order to process what he had experienced as much as possible. Second, he visited the victim’s family to apologize and talk. Karl was quoted as saying that none of the survivors blamed him for the accident. In addition, his family supported him.
Source: Nachrichten
