Brno BMW chase and motorcyclist crash: seven and four years

A court has handed seven and four years in prison to two men who, after a row at a petrol station, staged a dangerous car chase through the city in BMWs. During the chase, one of them deliberately crashed into a motorcyclist, who was injured.

Krištof was behind the wheel of a silver BMW 5 saloon, with Vít Kral, a well-known Brno boxer and trainer, racing after him in a black BMW X5 SUV. The men had argued at a petrol station, after which Kral, whose car carried three other men, began chasing Krištof. He had one passenger with him.

How the chase unfolded

Both ignored speed limits and red lights, and Krištof even drove in the oncoming lane. At an intersection he was forced to stop because of other cars, while Kral braked right behind him.

“The defendant Krištof hit the accelerator, squeezed between two cars, which he damaged, and deliberately drove into a motorcyclist standing in front of them. After the impact he made off again, and the defendant Kral continued to chase him,” prosecutor Marek Vagaj told the court. The chase was stopped only by police who had been called to the scene. Cameras recorded the behaviour of both men, and the footage became the key evidence.

What the defendants said

The men’s testimony surprised the judge. Krištof claimed he did not understand why another car was chasing him: according to him, the vehicle was “tailgating” him and pushing him off the road, while its passengers gestured and showed something resembling a sword. “I panicked,” he said. He claimed he had not noticed the motorcyclist: “I thought that at worst it would clip a mirror.” “Were you suffering from some kind of selective blindness?” Judge Aleš Novotný said, unable to believe his ears.

Kral denied the charge of endangering the public. In his version, Krištof himself invited him to meet and then deliberately ran away. “I wanted to ask what he wanted. I saw him knock down a motorcyclist and thought he was a complete lunatic. I followed him to find out what was going on, and there was a threat from his side that I should watch my back,” the boxer said.

The verdict

Krištof stood trial on charges of endangering the public and causing bodily harm. He received seven years’ imprisonment in a high-security prison and a seven-year driving ban. Kral was charged with endangering the public: he was given four years in a high-security prison and an eight-year driving ban. The verdict can be appealed.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz