The former Barça player and legend of Austrian football Hans Krankl was temporarily detained by police in the town of Pasching in the Upper Austria region on Sunday for allegedly endangering a police officer as he left the parking lot of the local stadium.
This was reported on Monday by public television ORF, which confirmed part of a report by the Viennese newspaper “Kronenzeitung”, which talks about an officer being run over by Krankl, something that he flatly denied.
The incident occurred at around 1800 GMT yesterday, when Krankl, 69, was leaving the parking lot of the Raiffeisen Arena Pashing stadium, having witnessed it, and commented for the private broadcaster Sky, the meeting of the Austrian Bundesliga between LASK Linz and Rapid Vienna (2:1).
As police sources told the local agency APA, the former coach of the Austrian national team drove his car into a police officer in the VIP parking lot of the LASK stadium and stopped him when he had already slight physical contact occurred between the agent and the bumper of the car.
“He then rolled the vehicle towards two more police officers and only stopped after another contact,” says the police report, cited by APA.
The “Kronenzeitung” claims to have had access to eyewitnesses who described “incredible scenes” starring the Austrian football icon, and even of an alleged run-over of a policeman.
“Krankl, who is presumed innocent, was led by six policemen to the stadium’s operations room and there he was interrogated”, says the popular newspaper, the one with the largest circulation in Austria.
At the same time, the magazine publishes Krankl’s reaction, which, although it confirms the questioning after the incident, denies that he hit an officer with his car.
“This is not true and I vehemently deny it. I wanted to turn right from the car park and I was stopped by a policeman who told me that I had to wait because the Rapid fans were being taken by bus first”, he explained.
“But the route was spacious and there was no reason not to let me pass. The agent then demanded the vehicle’s documentation from me and told me he was under arrest,” said Krankl.
“Six policemen took me to a room like a criminal,” he complained.
The police allowed him to leave shortly after, after writing down his details, although they have opened an investigation into the events which is still ongoing
According to the newspaper, Krankl admitted to being very embarrassed: “I’m friends with the police, I’ve even done charity concerts for them and played football with the police,” he recalled.
“Everyone who knows me knows that I would never put a policeman in danger. (This is) a stupid story that makes me feel very uncomfortable,” Krankl said, according to the Kronenzeitung.
Krankl, a Barcelona player between 1978 and 1981, had his best season in 1979 when he was top scorer in the Spanish League.
