In the end, a police helicopter had to end the chase: At 300 kilometers per hour, a man sped away from 41 patrol cars near Stuttgart. He was caught ten days later – but how the wild ride could have happened remains a mystery at first.
At an adventurous speed of up to 300 kilometers per hour, a wrong-way driver near Stuttgart managed to lose dozens of patrol cars and escape – albeit on foot in the end.
Around ten days after his wild ride, the police identified the suspected wrong-way driver and speeder. It was a 37-year-old from the Biberach district, it said in a statement on Tuesday. How the suspect got behind the wheel of the sports car was initially unclear – because he does not have a driver’s license. He was initially silent on the allegations
According to the police, the man had turned his Mercedes AMG GT 63 S sports car at the end of a traffic jam for an unknown reason and had raced in the wrong direction back to Stuttgart and then continued on the A8 towards Munich. Alerted by emergency calls, the police gave chase last Saturday night, but repeatedly lost sight of the speeder. A police helicopter finally followed the car. Nevertheless, he was able to get to Mühlhausen im Täle (Göppingen district), exit the autobahn, park the car in a residential area and flee on foot. In addition to the helicopter, a total of 41 patrol cars from 6 police headquarters were involved in the nightly chase.
A car dealer from the Biberach area leased the car, which cost almost 200,000 euros. The suspect had “authorized access to the key,” police said. He neither broke in nor got hold of the key illegally. A spokeswoman could not say how the suspect was connected to the company. Whether he has anything to do with the company privately or on business or works there is the subject of the investigation. He was allowed to stay in the company.
At least he could have driven around on private property without a driver’s license. It was initially unknown why the man didn’t have one. The spokeswoman could not say on Tuesday whether he had to give up his driver’s license or never had one. In addition, many other questions remained unanswered shortly after the suspect was identified, the motive for the prohibited turning maneuver and the subsequent escape was still unclear, according to the police. The spokeswoman could not say how many people besides the man had access to the sports car and how the dealer used the car – for example as a demonstration or business car.
It was not initially known which different penalties the speeding wrong-way driver would face. According to a police spokeswoman, the man was “taught” after the personal details were recorded and released again.
