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Accused in the Detmold district court: escape at high speed and without a driver's license
Photo: David Indian song / dpa
A good six months after his rapid escape from the police in Lemgo in the Lippe district, a driver has been sentenced to four years in prison.
The youth chamber of the Detmold district court found the 21-year-old guilty of intentional endangering of road traffic and other traffic offences.
The family man, who is known to the police, accidentally drove past police officers last October.
The officers recognized the man and assumed that he did not have a driver's license.
This then developed into a chase in and around Lemgo.
The officers in the patrol car were unable to stop the speeder.
Charge of attempted murder
"We have no doubt that it was all dangerous," said presiding judge Anke Grudda when the verdict was announced.
The court also took into account that the man had repeatedly driven without a license.
The verdict is not yet legally binding.
The speeder was also charged with attempted murder because the public prosecutor assumed that he had accepted the deaths of pedestrians while fleeing the patrol car in order to evade police control.
He wanted to cover up the fact that he was driving without a license and in an uninsured vehicle with false license plates.
However, the court ultimately did not follow this line of reasoning.
Accused denied endangerment of group of students
The process was particularly about a group of students on the man's escape route.
The 21-year-old had admitted to fleeing through residential areas at a much higher speed, but denied that the students were endangered.
In the end, the public prosecutor's office did not uphold the allegation of attempted murder and demanded a sentence of four years and nine months.
"I am convinced that he played with the life and limb of children," said prosecutor Christopher Imig.
"It wasn't an attempted murder," said defense attorney Sascha Haring.
He had pleaded for a sentence of two years and nine months.
fek/dpa
