Court jails 20-year-old reckless driver for fatal house crash

A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to four years in prison after a police pursuit ended with his car crashing into a house in Tilst, a suburb of Aarhus, and killing a 64-year-old woman, DR reports.

Aarhus District Court also disqualified Youssef Haissam El-Chiri from driving for five years. The woman was asleep in the house when the car smashed through it and came to rest on top of her.

The case was heard as a confession case after El-Chiri admitted to reckless driving that led to the crash. “I feel terrible,” he said.

Shortly before the crash, he was driving at 109 kilometres per hour on a quiet residential street, but braked just before hitting the house. Earlier, he and several others had driven recklessly in the parking lot of a Bilka store in Tilst. He then fled from police, who pursued him to the residential street. The car ended up in the house’s kitchen and living room, where a family was sleeping.

The Independent Police Complaints Authority is also investigating whether there was a connection between the police pursuit and the crash.