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BERLIN – A car crashed into a group of people in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin on Wednesday, killing at least one person and injuring several others before passers-by detained the driver, police said.
It is unclear whether the incident was intentional or accidental, said Martin Dames, a police spokesman for The Washington Post, adding that some people were “seriously injured”.
Police spokesman Tilo Kablitz also told German television that “the driver was initially detained by pedestrians and subsequently arrested by a land official.”
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Police have not yet named the driver, but say he is a 29-year-old German from an Armenian living in Berlin.
Fire spokesman Kevin Bartke said: “There are a total of five life-threatening injuries and three seriously injured, as well as an unspecified number of lightly injured. He also confirmed that the driver had received medical treatment, but could not say anything about the severity of his injuries.
The German newspaper Welt reported that the driver was treated at the hospital for a head injury, and the death was a teacher.
The incident happened near the popular Kurfürstendamm shopping boulevard in the western part of the German capital. The car climbed onto the sidewalk and then into the window of the Douglas drugstore.
Actor John Barrowman, who was on the scene, wrote on Twitter that the situation was “quite appalling.” Barrowman later uploaded videos showing that emergency services, including helicopters, were arriving to help people. “There are a lot of police, a dead body in the middle of the road,” he said.
The Berlin Fire Department tweeted that at least 60 of its responders were at the scene.
The corner where Wednesday’s incident took place is opposite Breitscheidplatz, a large public square that was targeted by a Tunisian who killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more when he drove a black truck through crowds of visitors to one of the most famous Christmas bazaars. The attack was carried out by the Islamic State group.
Hassan announced from London.
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