The police tried to stop a car just south of Stockholm last night – but the driver refused to stop and instead accelerated away.
A chase began with several patrols, but the police decided at Västerbron to stop the pursuit, according to the police event notice.
Barely a minute later, at the intersection Hornsgatan-Långholmsgatan at Hornstull on Södermalm, there was a heavy collision. The same car the police had been chasing crashed into a taxi.
Two people were in each car. All four were taken to hospital by ambulance. The passenger in the taxi is said to be very seriously injured.
The driver of the fleeing car, a 52-year-old man, was also arrested on suspicion of gross negligence in traffic, grievous bodily harm and illegal driving as he has long been without a driver’s license.
TV4 Nyheterna can now tell you that the 52-year-old is well known to the police for traffic-related crimes. He has an extensive criminal record and has been sentenced to prison time and time again.
Would have served a sentence
As recently as February this year, the man was convicted of two counts of gross negligence in traffic and gross illegal driving, drunk driving and gross drunk driving. This after two crazy drives last summer, one of which ended in a traffic accident.
In the first incident, he drove a motorcycle on footpaths where, among other things, children were and then at “very high speed” on the wrong side of the road when he tried to escape the police. Barely a month later, again under the influence of alcohol, he was chased by the police and drove the car over a shelter and straight into a house.
The district court considered that the 52-year-old “showed obvious indifference to other people’s lives and property” and that “the risk of recidivism is considered high.” The punishment was therefore six months in prison.
However, the repeat offender appealed the sentence, which is why he was never locked up, as the Court of Appeal has still not decided when to have a hearing in the case.
At the same time, the man is charged with gross illegal driving, gross drunk driving and drug offenses after using drugs and driving a car in January. The trial was scheduled to be held on Wednesday next week.
124 crimes connected to traffic or vehicles
TV4 Nyheterna has been able to map the 52-year-old’s criminal history back to 1995.
Convicted for 96 cases of traffic offences.
Convicted of 17 counts of vehicle-related offences.
Received waiver of prosecution for five cases of traffic offences.
Received waiver of prosecution for four cases of vehicle-related crimes.
Among the crimes are a long list of illegal driving, drunk driving and several cases of negligence in traffic. Also for fleeing the scene of an accident.
The illegal driving, which involves driving without a driver’s license, has been recurring for almost three decades, since 1995. He only had a driver’s license for a period between 2012 and 2013, before he was suspended until 2015 when he mishandled the Swedish Transport Agency’s conditions and had the driver’s license completely revoked.
In several of the cases the man was convicted of, he was chased by the police or described as dangerous to life in traffic and to the public, the mapping shows.
Now he is suspected, through his driving, of injuring three people, one of whom is being treated for serious injuries.