By Dirk Boettger
A terrified dog sits on the back seat of a Mercedes on the banks of the Teltow Canal. It’s probably the longest night of his life.
At around 2:50 a.m., the “persons in the water” alert was triggered at the Berlin fire brigade. Within a very short time, rescue workers arrived from all directions, including parts of the rescue group from Charlottenburg-Nord with divers, fire engines with boats, a multi-purpose boat directly on the Spree, an emergency doctor and an ambulance.
This was preceded by witnesses observing how a man jumped into the water at the “Grünauer Bridge”, on the bank of the Teltow Canal in Grünau, and swam to the opposite side.
The Berlin police arrived first, and it was difficult for the man to get out of the cold canal. He hid himself on the propeller of a boat. After the man was moved to shore, he was handcuffed and pinned to the bridge.
According to BZ information, the man gave two variants to explain his channel jump:
The first: He had argued with his girlfriend and she had also fallen or jumped into the Teltow Canal on the “Tauchersteig” (road on the shore).
The second: There was this very argument that he got out of his Mercedes on the bank of the canal and jumped into the canal. The girlfriend is said to have locked the car and run away. The direction is unknown to the man.
The police officers on site initiated a rescue. Meanwhile, the man in the Mercedes blew 1.5 per mille breath alcohol.
Suddenly the man changed his statements again. It should have been just a normal argument, his girlfriend would have freaked out and he would have jumped into the water to escape the situation.
The man was sometimes aggressive and verbally attacked the police officers deployed several times. The Berlin fire brigade broke off the operation after almost 50 minutes of searching the canal and bank area without success.
A lifeboat was also deployed Photo: Spreepicture
Shortly before the prisoner van arrived at around 3:55 a.m., the man who was tied up asked the police officers present: “What happened to my dog in the car?” The officers saw no reason to free the dog from the Mercedes parked on the bank. If his girlfriend shows up again with the key, she might take the dog out, or the man can take care of it himself once the measures are over. That would probably be around 9 to 10 o’clock.
The man was taken to a prisoner collection point (GeSa) in a prisoner van to have his blood drawn. Several witnesses were able to confirm that the man is said to have actually driven the car. Nothing is currently known about his passenger. The woman remained missing until morning.
The officials are now investigating the drunk driving and whether the driver also has to pay for the large-scale operation that he triggered due to his contradictory statements.
The man’s Mercedes Photo: Spreepicture