Overview

• Around midnight on Ruppelteweg, officers signalled a stop for a horse-drawn carriage and the 36-year-old driver ignored it and struck a patrol car.
• The chase lasted about 20 minutes across fields, meadows and steep paths as reinforcements struggled to follow the off-road route.
• During attempts to halt the carriage, the driver swung a whip at a policewoman and later drove toward another officer who jumped aside.
• After breaking through a pasture fence near Friesenbach, the carriage became stuck in mud, the horse collapsed from exhaustion and a veterinarian treated the animal.
• Officers seized the reins and handcuffed the resisting suspect, noted alcohol odor, ordered a hospital blood draw with results pending, and reported roughly €7,000 in damage alongside charges including assault on officers and endangering road traffic.