He is still being investigated because of Section 81 of the Criminal Code (grossly negligent homicide), which carries a prison sentence of up to three years.
The court found no grounds for detention for the 26-year-old. He has not been blamed so far and has been living in Belgium for several years. Austria has excellent legal assistance agreements with the EU state, so the man can return to his home country of Belgium and wait for the progress of the proceedings there.
The 26-year-old and the second car driver involved – a 30-year-old Austrian – denied in their interrogation that it was an illegal car race. The accident happened around 7:45 p.m. on the Schottenring. Both were driving along the Ring in their high-horsepower cars when they came to a red light at the Vienna Stock Exchange. While the 30-year-old stopped with his BMW, the 26-year-old drove his Mercedes through the intersection and crashed into the car of a 48-year-old, who was fatally injured. According to the police, the 30-year-old, who is still being held as a witness, stated in his statement that the red traffic light was visible to him.
The woman was trapped in her badly damaged car and had to be rescued by the professional fire brigade. After emergency medical care by the professional rescue service, she was taken to the emergency room of a hospital, where she succumbed to her serious injuries.
Too fast and tired
Immediately after the accident, the 26-year-old was arrested and taken to a prison because the investigations also went in the direction of illegal car racing. The public prosecutor’s office in Vienna then submitted an application for the imposition of pre-trial detention. In the meantime, however, the judicial authorities are apparently not assuming that it was an arranged race.
A video recorded by a car driving behind the vehicles involved documented what happened. It was initially unclear at what (maximum) speed the two were traveling and is the subject of investigations.
The 26-year-old is a Syrian citizen with a Belgian driver’s license who does not live in Vienna. According to the police, he stated that he was here as a tourist. The car was registered to him. A public health officer found that the young man had not only apparently been traveling too fast, but was also overtired.
Source: Nachrichten
