Manhole cover thrown on car: suspect arrested NDR.de – News – Lower Saxony
Status: 08/20/2022 5:02 p.m
After two manhole covers were thrown from a bridge onto the A7 near Hildesheim during the night, the police have now arrested a suspect. Two people were seriously injured.
The 50-year-old man comes from the Hildesheim district and is to be brought before a magistrate on Sunday, the public prosecutor’s office and the police said on Saturday afternoon. The police set up a homicide squad. Police say multiple cases of attempted homicide are being investigated.
Two seriously injured, four cars damaged by manhole throws
The 52-year-old driver of a VW Golf and his 43-year-old passenger were critically injured by the manhole cover throws around 3.30 a.m. on Saturday night. She is now out of danger, a police spokeswoman told the NDR in Lower Saxony in the morning. The second manhole cover landed on the opposite lane in the direction of Hamburg. Three vehicles were damaged when the manhole cover was run over. These three vehicles and the VW were secured and examined. Another motorist whose vehicle was damaged continued his journey.
A7 free again after hours of closure
The A7 was closed for several hours between Hildesheim-Drispenstedt and the Hannover-Süd motorway junction and was only released again on Sunday afternoon. During this time, the police secured, among other things, traces at the crime scene and the bridge between the Drispenstedt junction and the “An der Alpe” car park. They secure manhole covers weighing several dozen kilograms as well as larger stones. A road traffic accident expert was also consulted. Meanwhile, officers are looking for locations where the manhole cover is missing. They found what they were looking for in the northern industrial area in Harsum, among other places. During the parallel police investigations and the search for the suspect or suspects, the man from the district of Hildesheim who had now been arrested finally became the focus of the investigations. The police are still looking for witnesses: The investigators receive information on the telephone number (05121) 93 91 15.
Similar incidents in previous years
In recent years, there have been repeated incidents in Lower Saxony in which objects have been thrown from bridges onto moving vehicles. It was mostly stones, but manhole covers were also used. The most serious case was 14 years ago: In March 2008, a couple with their two children were traveling on the A29 near Oldenburg when a man threw a six-kilo block of wood off a motorway bridge. This smashed through the windshield of a car and killed a 33-year-old woman. The perpetrator, a 31-year-old man, was later sentenced to life in prison for murder and three counts of attempted murder.
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