Thief goes one car too far
A policeman and a car thief were severely injured early on Saturday in the Athens district of Kallithea when the thief, who had been caught in the act of stealing a vehicle, tried to escape in a patrol car. Stylianos Kabaklis, 32, was arrested on Xenofontos Street in a car he had just broken into and was trying to start. The two arresting officers handcuffed Kabaklis, searched him for weapons and put him in the back of the patrol car. The one, Evangelos Krikonis, went off in search of the car owner while the second officer, Goulielmos Drakotos, kept an eye on Kabaklis while at the same time directing passing motorists away from the scene. Meanwhile, Kabaklis managed to open the handcuffs, got into the driver’s seat and, finding the keys in the patrol car’s ignition, drove off, crushing Drakotos, who tried to stop him, against another car. Drakotos fired four shots at the thief – hitting him twice – who only covered a few hundred yards before crashing into a parked truck. Both were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
