The drunk driver of the Mercedes collided with a Skoda.

The drunk driver of the Mercedes collided with a Skoda. | Vasil Vasilev

Humphrey CarterPalma06/09/2016 00:00
TW
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At around 05.30 this morning, two local police officers spotted a Mercedes driving erratically in Playa de Palma. When they ordered the car to stop in order to check the driver’s paperwork, the man behind the wheel of the Mercedes drove straight into the two officers and continued at high speed through the streets of Arenal, onto the Llucmajor motorway and finally on to the road to Cap Blanc. Police units were by now in hot pursuit.

All of the mobile police on duty in Palma and Llucmajor were involved in the car chase. The Guardia Civil was also, because the vehicle was leaving the municipality of Palma and heading into Llucmajor.

On a number of occasions, police cars drew alongside the Mercedes but the driver sped off, driving in a "violent and aggressive" manner, trying to nudge police cars off the road.

The Mercedes headed into the Las Palmeras development, where the driver lost control of the vehicle, veered across the road into the path on an oncoming Skoda, being driven by a man on his way to work.

The impact of the head-on collision was fierce, and the two severely damaged vehicles came to a halt in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes to traffic. The driver of the Mercedes then began screaming that he was a diabetic and that he was dying. Paramedics, who had rushed to the scene, soon ruled out any need for concern and he refused to take a breath test.

The driver of the Skoda suffered a broken arm, while the middle-aged hit-and-run driver escaped with minor cuts and bruises, as did his female passenger. He was arrested and is currently in custody.

One of the two police officers remains in the Mutua Balear Hospital in Palma, while his colleague was discharged and is recuperating at home.