site.btaRomanian Driver of Migrants-Carrying Vehicle Shot in Ankle during Police Chase on Outskirts of Sofia

The Romanian driver of a vehicle which was transporting migrants received a wound to his ankle after police in Sofia chased him and fired gunshots. The news was reported on Wednesday by Stoyan Tsenov, Deputy Head of the Special Police Forces at the Sofia Directorate of the Ministry of Interior (SDMI).

At 9 AM on Wednesday, the General Directorate of National Police alerted the SDMI about a foreign-registered vehicle transporting aliens. At the Sofia entry point of the Trakia Motorway, the driver disobeyed a police signal to stop, and sped up instead, zigzagging between other vehicles. Enforcers went after him, Tsenov said.

The runaway vehicle drove on along Old Lozen Road and endangered people in the area with its maneuvers. When the police car pulled up side by side with it, the offending driver tried to hit the police car twice and brushed against it in one of the attempts. As the police car tried to avoid being hit, one of the officers travelling in it got a knock to his head and was later taken to hospital with a concussion.

Eventually, the police got around the runaway vehicle and blocked its way. When the officers got out of their car, the offending driver drove towards them and one of the officers fired several gunshots at the tyres. Pulling the driver out of the vehicle, the officers saw an entrance-and-exit wound on his ankle. No one among the migrants was injured.

Tsenov was adamant that the officer had every right to shoot. He explained that using a spike strip would be inadvisable on a busy road in an urban area. Investigators are trying to ascertain whether the police acted according to the rules.