A recent incident occurred in the Gesundbrunnen district of Mitte, Berlin, late in the evening. According to a police statement, a car-sharing vehicle was being controlled by officers when the 17-year-old driver attempted to evade the control by reversing. The police officer was injured in the arm during the incident. The fleeing driver then hit several people and finally crashed into a house wall, causing a 25-year-old pedestrian to be pinned between the vehicle and the wall, resulting in severe injuries that required hospital transport.
The Berlin Fire Department’s social media team reported that, due to the initial report and the “alarm code” used, the response was classified as a “mass casualty incident.” The report stated that, in the aftermath of the incident, eight people were seen by paramedics, resulting in one person with life-threatening injuries, five with minor injuries and two in need of care. Four ambulances and a rescue helicopter were deployed.
According to the police report, the incident unfolded as follows: police took the driver into custody immediately and three other passengers, aged 16 to 19, were temporarily detained. The 17-year-old suspect does not possess a valid driver’s license and is being investigated for multiple traffic offenses and bodily harm.
In a related report, the RBB (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg) mentioned that the Berlin Justice Department had initiated investigations into 811 cases of alleged street racing in 2023, with the majority of cases registered in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The police have a specialized unit for investigating illegal street racing, with the number of cases initiated in 2022 and 2023 being the second-highest since a law amendment in 2017. Overall, there have been around 4,300 proceedings related to the issue since the law change, with approximately 1,100 cases being closed.