Custody battle gets ugly; car drives into crowd in Germany

PASSAU: A man drove a car into a group of people in Passau, a city in southern Germany’s state of Bavaria, police said on Saturday.

According to initial findings, a 48-year-old Mercedes driver is said to have driven into a group of people standing on the pavement, including the driver’s wife, aged 38, and daughter, aged 5.

The tabloid Bild, citing police, reported that initial witness interviews in the Passau ramming incident pointed to a custody case.

“The group of five also included the man’s 38-year-old wife and his five-year-old daughter… Initial witness interviews in the group indicate a custody dispute,” a police spokesman told Bild.

The German DPA news agency also cited a police spokesman as saying that police suspect the incident may be linked to his relationship.

The spokesman also told Bild that there is currently one person with moderate injuries and four with slight injuries.

After further investigation, police have said that the criminal investigation so far has revealed evidence suggesting that a possible custody dispute may have triggered the ramming incident.

The Passau criminal investigation department, together with the Passau public prosecutor’s office, is now leading the investigation. A decision on detention of the suspect will be made on Sunday, police said.

The 48-year-old man, reportedly an Iraqi national, has been detained.

His wife and daughter, along with three other injured people, are receiving treatment in hospital. A police spokesman said that the severity of the injuries is not yet entirely clear, but that no one is in a life-threatening condition.

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