Witnesses sounded the alarm – a drunk with a jackknife on the move in Vienna


Because he first stabbed a park bench in Vienna-Penzing with a jackknife and then continued walking with the knife open, a 39-year-old man attracted the attention of several witnesses on Friday evening. When the police tried to arrest the suspect, the suspect initially refused to put the knife down.

The suspect was seen on Baumgartenstrasse on Friday evening when he was walking towards Hietzinger Kai with the knife open. Police officers from the Albert-Schweizer-Gasse inspection department advanced. Since the 39-year-old was still holding the knife, the officers approached with their service weapons drawn.

They asked him to put the knife on the floor. “At first the man did not comply, but then reluctantly,” said police spokesman Markus Dittrich. However, the suspect did not want to move away from the knife.

“I have to defend myself”
However, the police should succeed in a favorable moment to overwhelm the 39-year-old, to fixate and secure the knife, it said. Threats and verbal abuse followed against the suspect, who turned out to be drunk. An alcohol test showed around two per thousand. He declared that the reason for his actions was to have to defend himself.