New revealing footage has come to light from the violent police chase on Kifissos Avenue that led to the serious injury of a police officer. The 20-year-old driver, son of a well-known family, with passengers including a friend and two minors, engaged in dangerous street racing, putting lives at risk. The video evidence shows the vehicle accelerating and the police officer being thrown onto the opposite sidewalk.
Security camera footage answers many questions about the circumstances of the hit-and-run incident. The 20-year-old claims he accelerated because he thought he had fallen into a robbery ambush. However, evidence in the case file confronts him with serious contradictions.
The injured police officer described the moment in detail: “I saw the vehicle accelerating toward me. I shouted loudly and clearly ‘police’ but the driver didn’t stop. He hit me without reducing speed and I was thrown several meters away. I hit my body and head. I was unable to move,” he testified.
What the two minors declared
Inside the car, the two minor girls supported the claim that they thought the police officers were robbers. “Two cars stopped in front of and behind us. I saw 4 people getting out and we assumed they were robbers. That’s why the driver made a sudden maneuver and escaped. I had ducked down. We went together to his house and there his mother speculated that maybe those men were police officers,” said one of the 20-year-old’s friends.
The second minor, who declared herself the driver’s girlfriend, testified: “We stopped at that specific spot to coordinate where we would continue our nighttime entertainment. When we saw the armed men asking us to get out, we left the scene. 15 minutes later we left the car at a location unknown to me, because it had no fuel.”
Despite the explanations, questions remain: why didn’t anyone notify the police if they truly believed they were under attack? And why did the vehicle head toward the Southern Suburbs instead of moving toward Marousi?
What police investigations reveal
The police investigation states that “everyone admitted that both drivers were moving at high speed, performing dangerous maneuvers in impromptu races.” The two minors, however, contradicted the driver, stating they had realized it was a police chase. “At some point I heard the… (driver) saying: ‘police officers’. Then I turned and saw that unmarked official cars were following us, signaling for us to stop,” said one of them.
A passenger in the vehicle reported: “I realized the police checkpoint and the officers when their vehicle came alongside ours with the spotlight activated. Armed men got out whom I understood were police officers.”
The 20-year-old’s father, a businessman, rushed to stand by his son’s side. The police investigation notes: “At 08:33, 4 hours after the investigated incident, the Mercedes driver was found to have an alcohol level of 0.15 mg/l, from which it is concluded that at the moment of hitting the police officer he was under the influence of alcohol.”
Authorities record that the 20-year-old admitted to consuming alcohol, saying he didn’t remember what had happened. His father, however, intervened claiming: “Some men tried to rob my son.”
