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CRIME

Drunk in wheelchair leads police on high-speed chase

One policeman was injured after the intoxicated driver of a motorised wheelchair led officers on a high-speed chase through Bielefeld on Tuesday night.

Drunk in wheelchair leads police on high-speed chase
Photo: DPA

The 44-year-old is known to Bielefeld police as the “serial drunk wheelchair driver,” police spokesman Martin Schulz told The Local.

“The patrol car saw him driving down the street and decided to see how he was doing that day, and that’s when the chase began,” he said

When the wheelchair driver saw police pull up next to him, he turned sharply and sped down the sidewalk. One officer in the patrol car got out and started to pursue him by foot. He managed to catch up to the wheelchair but stumbled when the man sped up to the wheelchair’s maximum speed, 25 kilometres per hour.

According to Schulz, the fall caused a few scrapes and bruises, as well as a few laughs among the officer’s colleagues.

The two officers in his pursuit finally caught up with the drunk at his home, where he went with them to the station for a blood alcohol test peacefully.

“It was obvious that the man had had too much to drink when police finally caught up to him at home,” Schulz said.

Results of the alcohol test are not back yet, but Schulz said the man admitted he had had a few to drink that day. After being tested, the man was allowed to go back home but ordered to stay off his wheelchair.

“Thank God it’s only a wheelchair he drives when he’s drunk,” Schulz said.

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POLITICS

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

German officials said on Thursday they had raided properties as part of a bribery probe into an MP, who media say is a far-right AfD lawmaker accused of spreading Russian propaganda.

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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