German court orders man to psychiatric hospital after fatal car attack

A man who killed a cyclist and injured three others in a car attack near Berlin last September will be confined to a psychiatric hospital. The Potsdam regional court ordered his placement, citing completed manslaughter and multiple counts of attempted manslaughter.

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The man committed the acts in a state of diminished responsibility due to a mental illness.

The court determined the man committed the acts while in a state of diminished responsibility due to a mental illness. A psychiatric expert testified that the man suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and experienced an acute episode during the attacks.

Prosecutors had initially charged the man with murder, alleging he intentionally targeted four people with his car. The incident followed an argument with his cousin, during which the man bit off part of his cousin's finger. The cousin fled the car, and the man then drove erratically, striking a pedestrian, dragging a woman, and narrowly missing another person before fatally hitting a cyclist.

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The man suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and experienced an acute episode during the attacks.

Both the prosecution and the defense had requested the man be placed in a clinic. He had previously been in forensic psychiatric care. The court's ruling is not yet final and can be appealed within a week.

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He had intentionally driven at four people one after another; the murder characteristic of treachery exists.