By Sandra Basan
When Ruben Lagies (39) wants to be close to his dead father, he doesn’t just go to his grave. Sometimes he also drives to a specific bus stop in Berlin. There, on the bustling Savignyplatz, his “dad’s” life ended. In the bus lane.
On February 7, 2020, Bernd Wissmann († 64) was cycling out of town through the 30 zone when Anatoliy K.’s (34) 600 hp BMW hit him from behind after an unsuccessful overtaking maneuver and rammed him off the road. At least 73 km/h!
“He’s missing,” says Ruben Lagies and has to swallow. “As a father, husband, grandfather and friend.” He looks at the white ghost bike that the General German Bicycle Club (ADFC) has set up at the scene of the accident.
Anatoliy K. (34) was charged with negligent homicide. The trial against the co-owner of a Berlin nursing service company has been postponed again – to June 6th and 13th, 2023 Photo: Joerg Bergmann
Three years later, the family is still waiting for the speeder to be tried. The main hearing scheduled for the third anniversary of Bernd Wissmann’s death was postponed, and for the second time!
Businessman with a long record of traffic offenses
The judge at the Tiergarten District Court had to “negotiate a priority custody matter”. Previously, in September 2022, the accused, a businessman with a long history of traffic offenses, had spontaneously called in sick.
Meanwhile, his lawyer tried in vain to avert the process with a prepared settlement. “Mr. K. should be accountable for what he did in the courtroom,” says Ruben Lagies, who appears with his sister as a joint plaintiff. “So far he hasn’t offered an apology, a word of remorse, nothing.”
Involuntary manslaughter carries a prison sentence of up to five years. “Most of the time it’s just a fine. This level of injustice is hard to bear,” says Ruben Lagies, shaking his head. He cannot come to terms with the death of his father. With each new trial date, the day that changed everything is here again.
Architect Bernd Wissmann († 64) ran errands by bike during his lunch break Photo: Christoph Michaelis
During the lunch break, Bernd Wissmann had bought train tickets at the nearby Zoo train station. At around 2:45 p.m., on his way back to his small architectural office, he crashed into the bonnet with great force, flew 37 meters through the air and lay motionless on the asphalt.
“He had various broken bones, internal bleeding, skull fractures. A witness held his head as he lost consciousness,” reports Ruben Lagies. While paramedics and the emergency doctor fought for the life of the father, the son sat at his desk in his apartment nearby and worked with concentration.
The interior designer ignored all calls until the evening: “My sister told me on the phone ‘Dad is dead’. You can’t believe it at first. It wasn’t until I told my wife that I cried.”
Ruben Lagies (39) misses his father and often looks at the scene of the accident on Savignyplatz. A ghost bike was set up by a lantern Photo: Christoph Michaelis
He drove to the clinic where the family was already waiting: “My father was still in the operating room, pale and covered up. We weren’t allowed to touch him, probably because of the autopsy,” Lagies said. In order to somehow make the incomprehensible understandable, he ran to Savignyplatz that night. Alone.
Last meters in the life of the father
“It was always a central place in my life, I grew up there. Now it has a different meaning.” He saw the red, green and yellow markings of the accident reception on the road and was able to understand what had happened in the last few meters of his father’s life.
While Ruben Lagies has been waiting in vain for his father’s trial and justice, at least the street has been redesigned. Today it is one lane and has its own bicycle lane: “Whenever I cycle there, I also see it as a legacy from my dad.”