Who was driving the car?

Incredible twist in Styrian death drama

The Fladnitz/Teichalm fire brigade recovered the wreckage.

(Bild: Freiwillige Feuerwehr Fladnitz an der Teichalm)

A Styrian is said to be responsible for a terrible car accident in which his friend died. However, he insists that he was not driving and that the deceased was driving the car. He will soon stand trial in Graz for gross negligence manslaughter.

A tragedy took place last August on the L 352 in Nechnitz (Weiz district). One that took a drastic turn from the point of view of the public prosecutor's office in Graz. According to initial official reports, a 67-year-old Styrian got behind the wheel after a visit to a pub, with his equally drunk friend (46) in the passenger seat.

The accident happened at around three o'clock in the morning: "The driver probably left the road on a long bend, drove into a wooded area and hit several trees," reported the police at the time. There was no help for the driver, he died at the scene of the accident. It was suspected that he was not wearing a seatbelt. His passenger was injured but survived the accident.

The accused stated that he could no longer remember, but that he had woken up in the passenger seat and had therefore obviously not been driving.

Gerichts-Sprecherin Barbara Schwarz

Charge of gross negligence manslaughter
The investigation by the police continued. And have now revealed something unbelievable. From the point of view of the Graz public prosecutor's office, it was not the older man who was driving, as had been assumed, but his friend, which is why he was charged with gross negligence manslaughter. There is said to be several pieces of evidence.

The 67-year-old is said to have injured his foot so badly in the pub that he was no longer able to walk. For this reason, and because he was also too drunk, witnesses lifted the injured man into the passenger seat of the VW Passat, which belonged to the younger man anyway - and who, according to witnesses, got into the driver's seat despite having a blood alcohol level of 1.4 and sped off in the car shortly before 11 p.m. - far too fast and overtired to boot. As the analysis of the airbags revealed, the fatal accident happened immediately afterwards. But why did the survivor only make the emergency call several hours later, at around 3 a.m.? What happened in the meantime?

Despite everything, the 46-year-old, for whom the presumption of innocence applies, maintains that he was not driving and that his dead friend caused the accident.