Dutch queen escapes as driver crashes into crowd, killing four

[Mind_your_head]

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

A car travelling at high speed ploughed into a crowd waiting for Queen Beatrix of Holland, reportedly killing up to four people.

Witnesses said that the black Suzuki Swift appeared to deliberately target an open bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family in the town of Apeldoorn during festivities to mark Queen's Day, a national holiday.

The car swerved across police railings, where crowds of people were waiting to see the queen pass, and slammed into the foot of a stone monument, where it came to a halt, its bonnet crumpled and scraped.

The royal bus was not hit, and no one in the queen's entourage was injured, officials said.

But television footage showed members of the royal family, riding in the open top bus, clutch their hands to their mouths in shock as the car sped through a barricade right before their eyes.


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/5250768/Dutch-queen-escapes-as-driver-crashes-into-crowd-killing-four.html

---

Here is also a BBC link to the story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8026807.stm

[ginnyinWI]

1. it was on CBS last night

They have footage of people rolling in the street after being hit--I was shocked that American tv would show that. You can see the whole broadcast online.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4981908n

[Mind_your_head]

2. Yeah, there is video footage at the links I posted as well...

I also see that this was posted already yesterday (oops - sorry mods) here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3855699

I was away from the news/DU yesterday, so I didn't see it. I was pretty shocked when I read about it this morning.

[sofa king]

3. Karst Tates, driver who attacked Dutch royals, was 'in despair' over recession

The man who rammed his car into crowds at the Dutch Queen’s annual parade, killing six, appears to have been driven to despair by the recession after losing his job and his home.

Karst Tates, 38, who died early this morning from injuries he received smashing his Suzuki car through barriers and ploughing through bystanders in a failed attempt to reach the Royal Family’s open-topped bus, was due to hand back the keys of his apartment today because he could no longer pay the rent.

Tates was described by neighbours as a friendly loner who had worked unsociable hours as a security guard before being made redundant earlier this year. They added that they rarely saw the shaven-headed man, who had few visitors and no known girlfriend.


(Warning: yucky picture in the article below.)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6206084.ece

____________________________________

You know what? My patience is running thin for people who are "in despair" and use that as a launch pad to go out and do something violent and batshit crazy. I have suffered from chronic depression my entire life, along with the various other disorders which invariably come along with that. In my lowest moments, I thought often about killing myself.

But I never seriously thought about or planned to harm anyone other than myself, and couldn't harm myself because that in turn would hurt others.

So I'm having a damned hard time mustering up sympathy for this jerk or any other person who uses their own unhappiness as a weapon. It's not cool.