At around 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning, during supervision of the current curfew, police officers noticed a Volkswagen vehicle driving on the road. Law enforcement officers turned on their lights and stopped the vehicle to check the reasons why the person was outside his residence during the curfew.
When the officers approached the car to check the documents, the driver handed his documents to the police through a narrow window and immediately closed the window. The police wanted to find out more information and the reasons why the man was outside his place of residence, but he no longer cooperated with the police.
The police then smelled gas. At one point, the driver suddenly turned in the car, started a fire and an explosion occurred when the man blew up a gas cylinder in his car, law enforcement officers inform.
As a result of the explosion, the police officers were thrown away from the car, while the driver himself was thrown out of the vehicle. However, the man was able to use the situation to get into the police car and tried to steal it.
One of the police officers, who had suffered minor injuries as a result of the explosion, noticed what was happening and hurried to stop the man. The man at that time attacked the police officer, also trying to take away his service weapon. The police officer managed to repeatedly notify colleagues that assistance was needed.
A fight then broke out between the police officer and the man, which started in the police car, then continued in a ditch. At that time, the other police officer, who had suffered a serious facial injury as a result of the explosion, had also recovered and helped his colleague to restrain and detain the man.
The nearest police crew soon arrived at the scene. The Emergency Medical Service and the State Fire and Rescue Service were also called to attend.
One of the officers was taken to hospital, while the other was released with less serious injuries.
The detained man is currently in temporary custody, and a decision on security measures will be made. According to police, "apparently the man's actions were deliberate." The man's motives are still being determined, but he initially explained that he had decided to do so in connection with ''Covid-19 and vaccination''.
This case will also have serious consequences for the future life of the man and his family, the State Police points out, adding that the unnamed individual has not previously had any run-ins with law enforcement.
A criminal process has been launched, and if convicted the man could face a jail term from two to 20 years. The man has also been fined the maximum penalty for violating curfew restrictions - EUR 2,000.
