DARMSTADT: Islamist terrorist attack? German-Afghan causes serious accident - eyewitness

Anna-Marleen Howe is in Darmstadt for us. Anna-Marleen, what exactly was going on, how did it happen and how were people able to get to safety in time? Yes, it was quite a turbulent and exciting moment, also for the residents here on the street, who always want to come out here and take another look at the accident site. We can do this together, considering the force with which the 24-year-old man who caused the accident crashed into this area. This iron bar from the street sign was even broken off and then thrown around here. The window pane here at the front right of the shop was also broken because the cars met there and came to a standstill. The accident victim, the young man in the Skoda, then had to be cut out by the fire department and was taken to hospital injured. Otherwise, thank God, nothing happened to anyone else. It could have turned out completely differently, because the 24-year-old, a German-Afghan, was racing wildly through the streets, missing red lights, driving on sidewalks, until the accident with the Skoda came and this trip may have come to an end. I had the opportunity to talk to an eyewitness here on site. He's a direct neighbor of the accident site, and we'll listen to what he reported. Yes, well, as usual, I was at home an hour before work, sitting in the living room, and then heard a very unusual squeak, not the usual thing when young people are drifting, I'll say. Then I went out the window, and at the same time there was a huge crash, looked out, and right there in the corner the car was suddenly lying sideways. Everyone ran there just as this accident happened. What happened next here on the street? What happened next? Of course, there is the stop opposite, and there were a lot of witnesses, I'll say, passers-by. So you can also consider it lucky that there weren't any children on the route, because at that time it's actually common for school to be out or for children to come from kindergarten . And apparently people have reacted before because he ran red lights and so on. And with the impact, it's actually not common in the 30 zone for a Skoda station wagon, I think it was, to fall sideways like that. How can you explain this, what do you estimate, 30 on the road here, how fast must the driver have been to cause such a serious accident? Put it this way, I drive a Renault Clio myself, it would still be possible, but at 30, definitely not, that's not possible. So I think that was an enormous number that was on the clock. Well, it's hard to estimate that, but the fact that he was able to overturn a Skoda from the side is saying something. And it was an older model, a BMW 3 series, owned by the young man. Did you see how the accident happened? Was he explicitly driving on the sidewalk at that point , or was he heading towards the bus stop? What exactly were you able to observe? So now I could only observe how it ultimately turned out. Yes, the victim, I will now say in quotation marks, the victim was lying in his car, covered in blood. Yes, I'm not assuming that there was a trip on the pedestrian path, I don't know whether there were any influences at play with the young man, but I did n't see the crime myself. I heard the impact and went straight out of the house to be able to provide first aid. Exactly. Did you experience the arrest? What impression did the driver, who caused the accident, make on you? At first there was no arrest, and later there was no arrest as such, as we now know it classically. I don't know whether it was a shocking moment that the young man was very calm, he could have been shocked, I don't know, every person is different. But he looked so calm at first glance. So I would react differently If it were to happen to me, it would definitely be different, but every person reacts differently to something like that. What does calm mean? Did he get out and stand around in the area, or talk to the police, or what was the situation like? No, not at all, so he first looked at the scene of the accident and then went back to the flower shop, as you can see further ahead there is a flower shop, and apparently sat down there. There were also passers-by coming out of the store who then observed him. Exactly. Okay, so he basically walked away and went into this flower shop, sat down, and then the police came. Exactly, exactly right. Exactly. Yes, intentional action cannot be ruled out, said the LKA from Hesse, which is also investigating state security matters, because it is now being examined: Was it a shooting spree? Was it under the influence of drugs or alcohol? So what are the exact reasons? And Welt also learned from security authorities that an Islamist background cannot be ruled out, because the young man is said to have told the police that he had acted on behalf of Allah. The investigation will then have to show that. Anna-Marleen, thank you very much for this description and the interview.