Collision between two police cars injures seven in Vienna

Seven people were injured, two seriously, when two police cars collided in Vienna’s Favoriten district on Saturday afternoon, ORF reported. The cause of the crash remained unclear on Sunday afternoon.

The police vehicles were responding to a call for help with a patient described as aggressive and in psychological distress. Ambulance staff requested police assistance at about 5 p.m. Officers from the Favoriten City Police Command and the police reserve unit arrived at Gudrunstrasse at the same time and their vehicles collided, police spokesperson Anna Gutt said.

The impact sent one police car onto the pavement, injuring three paramedics, three passers-by and a police officer inside the vehicle. A 20-year-old paramedic and a 76-year-old passer-by were seriously hurt. Vienna’s professional ambulance service treated all seven and took them to different hospitals. The other injured people have since been discharged to home care.

The patient was taken by ambulance to a hospital’s psychiatric ward. Both police cars sustained extensive damage, and the entrance door of a nearby restaurant was badly damaged.