Officers attacked

Brutal car robber caught after a wild escape

The stolen Porsche Cayenne was badly damaged in the crash after the rampage.

(Bild: Matthias Lauber/laumat.at/laumat)

The handcuffs clicked at 6.00 a.m.! The 32-year-old who robbed and destroyed a Porsche in Wels on Saturday evening before fleeing on foot was apprehended and arrested by officers with service dogs not far from the scene of the accident. The "Krone" knows the background to the wild chase.  

What happened yesterday in Wels sounded like a scenario from an action movie or the video game "Grand Theft Auto", as reported by the "Krone": at around 6.30 p.m., a 58-year-old man from Wels was sitting in his parked Porsche Cayenne checking his e-mails. 

Sudden and brutal attack
Suddenly, an unknown 32-year-old man from Wels with Polish roots ripped open the door of the luxury SUV and, without any warning, punched the completely stunned owner in the face with both fists, brutally pulled him out of the car and kicked his legs out from under him, causing the 58-year-old to hit the ground hard. As if that wasn't enough, the brutal attacker kicked the surprised man from Wels at least ten more times.

BMW, house facade and lamp post rammed
While the victim writhed on the ground in pain and witnesses took photos and alerted the police, the 32-year-old sped off with his tires screeching and fled in the Porsche over the old Traun bridge to Thalheim. The mishap then occurred at the traffic circle there: a 52-year-old man from Wels, who was driving his BMW 440i there, was rammed by the robber because he had lost control of the massive Porsche. The façade of a garden center was also badly damaged before the car was stopped at a lamp post.

Wanted to rob the next car
Apparently completely unimpressed by the effects of his rampage, the Polish-born driver still hadn't had enough: he freed himself from the badly damaged luxury SUV and ripped open the door of the next car to continue his mad dash through the city. But this driver resisted and was wearing his seatbelt, so the 32-year-old was unable to drag him from the driver's seat. 

Local resident put police on the right track
So the robber continued his escape on foot. This led to a large-scale manhunt, with a helicopter even being used to search for the speeding maniac. But this was unsuccessful - at least until 6.00 am. Shortly before that, an attentive local resident had seen a strange man sitting in his garden near the traffic circle. Because he had already heard about the madness, he secretly took photos and sent them to the police. Because the same man was recognizable in the photos as in the witness photos from the previous evening, the uniformed officers arrived with a large contingent to arrest the suspect.

Ran away again
But the suspect still refused to admit defeat and ran away again at the sight of the blue uniforms, jumping into a small stream. There he was caught by the police with service dogs. He did not comply with the request to surrender, but instead attacked the officers and their service dogs. Only when one of the police dogs bit the rabid man twice was the end of the line. The 32-year-old is currently being questioned.