Curious mission

“Must exit” – escape from rescue after accident

Big job for the fugitive accident driver in the Brandenberg valley.

(Bild: ZOOM Tirol/zoom.tirol, Krone KREATIV)

A mast next to the Aschauer Straße in the municipality of Brandenberg in the Tyrolean district of Kufstein prevented a car crash. The driver (24) did not think to report the accident. And he fled from the ambulance.

It was raining heavily when a man from Unterland "parked" his car on a pole on Aschauer Straße at around 4.30 a.m. on Saturday. This prevented the car from falling over steep terrain in the Brandenberg valley. The man had little interest in reporting the accident. Witnesses raised the alarm.

"When my colleagues arrived at the scene of the accident, the rescue team was already there," says Richard Hotter, commander of the Kramsach police.

He told us that he was fine and that a search was not necessary.

Richard Hotter

Driver took flight
The driver of the accident pretended in the ambulance that he had to go to the toilet. However, he actually fled down the steep embankment to the valley floor. Not even the Brandenberger Ache could stop him. A manhunt and search began because the man was soaked, slightly injured and in danger from wading through the Ache at an air temperature of two degrees. A drone from the Kufstein fire department and a thermal imaging camera were used to search for the 24-year-old - in vain.

Alcohol test refused
A car then turned up at the scene of the accident, driven by an acquaintance of the wanted man. He had been asked to pick him up. However, he did not want to know his location

At around 7 a.m., the police finally reached the 24-year-old on the phone. "He told us that he was fine and that a search was not necessary," says Richard Hotter. The police asked the man to take a breathalyzer test. However, he didn't feel like it. His bad luck: the "refusal" counts as a refusal.