This is one of those stupid crime stories that remind you that there are two versions of Germany (old Germany with safe streets, and new Germany where things can be tense).
Yesterday in Wiesbaden (Saturday)....bus traffic around the city ought to be minimum (kids not going to school, and half the population off for the day).
Around 7:45 in the morning....over by the train station and the bus points there....the bus starts to pull up.
Two young gentlemen (both in early 20s) are standing there to enter the bus. For whatever reason, they 'bump' each other. Cops can't really explain why or paint the landscape for this moment.
But things start to get a bit tense.
There's some comments made by one guy....maybe some counter comments by the second guy, and then all hell breaks loose. One of the gentlemen pulls out a knife, and goes to slashing on the second guy (head, neck, ear). Luckily, he misses any serious arteries.
While this event was unfolding....cops are actually conducting a patrol and see some part of the event. So they are quickly reacting.
The knife dude? He's woken up to reality, and takes off into the train station.
Ambulance is called and the injured guy is not too badly hurt (required stitches on the wounds).
Additional cops are called, and the security cam scouts the inside of the train station....where they find the knife guy and arrest him.
So here's the odd part of the story which doesn't fit too well, told by the local news source Wiesbadenaktuell.....the knife guy is from Bebra. That's a far distance away (almost two hours by car, and getting to Wiesbaden by train would take near 3 hours). It's way up past Fulda.
Charges? It's going to be fairly serious....with the injuries suffered by the other guy....dangerous bodily harm. If this were just a fight, without the knife, he could have counted on 3 months to five years in prison. With the knife involved and the serious nature of the wounds....it's probably 6 months to ten years that the jury will be looking at.
What provoked the guy? Unknown. Why such a quick reaction....going to the knife? Unknown. Drug usage somewhere in the middle of this? I might be asking that question. There is a drug-zone about 500 feet away from where all this action occurred. It could be that the guy hadn't scored on his morning 'hit' yet and was low on cash.
But here's the thing, it really didn't take much to set this guy off, and this is what you tend to view as troublesome about Germany today....in urbanized areas. Frankly, I never considered Wiesbaden to be some urbanized zone. You could have walked around in the late 1970s at 10 PM on a Friday night, and never find much trouble. It was a humble and quiet town (the opposite character of Frankfurt).
You went to Frankfurt for excitement. You went to Wiesbaden....well, mostly to 'chill-out'. Wiesbaden was where you sipped apple-wein, sat on park benches, and strolled through the green landscape.
So this was a reminder why you always have to view your surroundings and be vigilant. Things are never quiet as safe as you think.
No comments:
Post a Comment