Drunk man leaves the car on the track in the direction of Buchs: combined fine and prison sentence
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A 28-year-old lost his Swiss apartment and had to move back in with his mother in Feldkirch. He left his car drunk on the track in the direction of Buchs. A passenger train almost collided with the vehicle.
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The man drove along the Geis until his car got stuck in the gravel.
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Feldkirch. The 28-year-old bricklayer had a lot to deal with in the autumn. In Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, he had lost his job, had a lot of debts, his Swiss apartment was gone and he had to move in with his mother in Feldkirch. He drank a lot more than he was thirsty, according to his own account a couple of beers and a Jack Daniels, with which he brought it to a little over a per thousand.
At around 10.30 p.m. he left his regular pub in Feldkirch and got into the car. Right at the beginning of the journey, the driver hit a boundary post. He drove towards Altenstadt, did a few more laps on a soccer field, which caused damage to the corridor. Then he branched off on the railway line to Buchs and drove along the tracks until the car got stuck in the track ballast. The wheels spun, there was no going back and forth. In a panic, the 28-year-old left the Toyota and walked the few hundred meters to his apartment. He no longer knows why he went onto the tracks in the first place.
Great luck
“At around 10:50 p.m., the emergency coordinator of the Austrian Federal Railways could be notified. A passenger train should have passed the route at 23.05 », shows public prosecutor Melanie Wörle how close an accident was prevented.
The train was diverted at the last moment. Several people had observed the action and notified the state control center. But shortly afterwards, the drunk driver himself called the state control center and reported that his vehicle had been stolen from him. According to his lie, he deposited it at the Feldkirch regional court, where the thief must have stolen it. “My client was in a panic, he was also heavily drunk and feared for his driver’s license,” explains defense attorney Serkan Akman.
Suspicious tracks
But the police immediately became suspicious when they saw the filthy complainant. More detailed investigations confirmed that the dirt on the trousers matched the soil material from the railway embankment. Eventually the man admitted his wrongdoing. “I don’t think that one can speak of intent,” says Akman, convinced that his client was not aware of the great danger he had created for train passengers and train drivers.
The court, the lay judges’ senate, found the defendants guilty of attempting to deliberately endanger the community and to pretend to be a criminal offense. The penalty for the fivefold criminal record: twelve months probation plus 8,000 euros unconditional fine. The driver’s license is gone too. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
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