Police: No intent involved in traffic accident in Helsinki on Saturday

The car came to a stop outside Café Esplanad on Pohjoisesplanadi in Helsinki. Passers-by at the scene of the incident on Sunday, 1 April. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)

OFFICERS at Helsinki Police Department have found no evidence of intent in the traffic accident that left three people injured and several cars damaged in downtown Helsinki on Saturday.

The 33-year-old man who drove the vehicle is not believed to have planned the act in advance, been motivated by any ideological beliefs or attempted to deliberately run over any pedestrians or into other cars.

“There have been no indications that the man tried to deliberately run over people,” Lasse Lagerbohm, the detective chief inspector in charge of the pre-trial investigation at Helsinki Police Department, stated to YLE on Tuesday. “We have some sort of understanding of the reasons for the incident, but the investigation is still in its early stages.”

The investigators have determined, though, that there was one passenger in the car. Both the motorist and the passenger, a woman of unspecified age, have been tentatively interviewed by police, according to Lagerbohm.

Police have also reviewed security camera footage of the incident.

The motorist is tentatively suspected of causing a serious traffic hazard, negligent bodily injury, resistance to a public official and contumacy to the police. The investigators are also looking into the possibility that the man was intoxicated based on his demeanour at the time of arrest; video footage circulating on social media shows the man screaming loudly as he is being apprehended by police.

The results of a blood test performed on him in the aftermath of the incident are expected by Saturday.

The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that the car driven by the suspect is owned by one of its officials. While neither the ministry nor the police has clarified whether the car was driven by its owner at the time of the incident, police have reported that the car was not stolen.

The official ran unsuccessfully in the county elections held earlier this year on the ticket of the Finns Party.

The suspected was transported directly to hospital from the scene of the incident and has, at no point, been in police custody. Police have declined to comment on whether he has been released from hospital.

The pre-trial investigation will continue with the examination of photos and video footage of the incident, as well as the interviews of eyewitnesses and the involved parties. “We’re aware of roughly 30 people whom we’ll have to interview,” Lagerbohm told YLE.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT