Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A woman was killed when several cars hit her on the A9 autoroute Wednesday 10 March, shortly after midnight, near Villeneuve in the direction of Lausanne. Police are asking witnesses to phone them: +41 21 644 44 44.
The woman had a very high alcohol level of 2.40/1,000 when she was taken as a victim to the hospital in Montreux following a domestic incident. Police had been called at 21:30 on the emergency number 117 to an apartment block in Vevey, where a man and woman were fighting; she had slight injuries to one hand and was treated at the Montreux hospital, then released.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Geneva were busier than usual Tuesday 9 March, thanks to the high winds that swept through the Lake Geneva region and the coat of ice they left, especially along the lakefront.
Geneva police say the navigation police were called out when a 10-metre sailboat boat sank. They responded to another 40 calls for boats that looked at risk.
Two boat annex buildings sank under the weight of the ice and three more boats look close to sinking due to the weight of the ice accumulating on them. Police are asking boat owners to check on them.
Police warn that the lakefront has a solid coat of ice along the following quais: Wilson, Pâquis, Eaux-Vives, as well as all mooring areas. Pedestrians are warned to dress appropriately, in particular wearing adequate boots.
Ed. note: see the GenevaLunch photo gallery, 36 images of Tuesday’s ice along Lake Geneva, by Peter Brodbeck
Photo found on cell phone of dead man in Champery, Switzerland, near French border, possibly from French drivers license
Sion, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police trying to identify the body of a man found 13 February near the resort of Champéry have published two photos found on his cell phone, in the hope that these will provide some clues to help identify him.
An autopsy has not made the cause of death clear, but foul play is not suspected based on the results. He was found by a freerider snowboarding in a forest area a few hundred metres from the Grand-Paradis ski lift. He was found face down in the snow, in an advanced state of decay, and had apparently been there, covered by snow, for several weeks.
Valais police say they have few clues and they are hoping the photos, even if they are of someone else, will help them identify the man, who appears to have been in his 20’s or 30’s.
Cell phone photo found on dead man in Champery
One of the photos has RF on it and could be from a French driver’s license. There are no missing persons reports in the area, including in nearby France.
Anyone with information is asked to phone Valais police at +41 27 326 5656.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Drivers age 20-29 have the highest number of people whose licenses were taken away in 2009: 24,858. But drivers over age 50, with nearly 15,000 licenses removed, make up the fastest growing group.
Swiss federal road safety statistics were published Tuesday 23 February and they show a 5 percent increase, to more than 34,000 drivers, in the number of people whose licenses were taken away for speeding. Drivers whose licenses were removed because they were over the alcohol limit, with 0.8 per thousand or more, decreased by 7.8 percent, some 17,000 fewer. The two make up the bulk of cases of the nearly 75,000 licenses removed in Switzerland by police in 2009.
A growing number of people, some 9,000 last year, had their licenses taken away for inattentive driving, generally due to using a cell phone or GPS system.
Swiss Alpine forests: not suitable for drunken walks in winter (view from Aigle)
Villars-sur-Ollon, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A rescue team at 06:20 Wednesday morning 17 February found a man in his early twenties on an extremely steep slope below the ice rink in Villars-sur-Ollon. He had lost his shoes and was not wearing a coat when he was found nearly four hours after he went missing during a night of visiting bars with a group of friends. The friends of the young man, who is from Vaud, phoned emergency number 117 when they realized he was missing, and made it clear that he had had too much to drink. A sizable rescue operation got underway: four people from the local mountain rescue service, three area police patrols, a dog rescue team, an ambulance and a helicopter were called out.
He was walking in 50 to 60cm of snow when he was found near a stream that he had been following.
Switzerland's autoroute stops are heavily used by truck drivers taking their legally required breaks. Here: above Montreux, Vaud
Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A truck driver from one of the former Yugoslavia regions, stopped Monday 15 February near Gentilino on the A2 autoroute for speeding, ate his tachometre, say cantonal police in Ticino. The man was stopped for speeding, but it was discovered that he had driven 1,054 kilometres without pausing for a break over the course of 18 hours. Truck drivers are legally required to take regular breaks, and Ticino police, at the border with Italy, say they have noticed a growing lack of respect for the rule, so they’ve stepped up controls.
An ambulance had to be called for the 34-year-old man, who was later released from hospital but had to pay CHF2,000 in bail pending charges.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Hotel Terminus across from the Cornavin main train station in Geneva caught fire at 03:00 Monday and 50 firefighters were called to the scene. Monday morning traffic in the area has been rerouted, with only one lane open, causing serious traffic jams in the area. Public transport is working normally, say police.
Some 90 residents of the hotel were evacuated and three were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation, but there were no serious injuries. The cause of the fire, which appears to have started in a technical services room.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police in Geneva have now made available dozens of photos of recovered stolen jewelry to help victims find their missing possessions. The jewelry can be viewed by going to the police jewelry division, opening the pdfs and noting the reference number if you find something of yours there. Contact the police and make an appointment to see them in order to claim it:
Service des bijoux de la police judiciaire, Vieil Hôtel de Police, 17-19 boulevard Carl-Vogt, Geneva.
Tel: +41 22 427 8281 (08h00-11h30)
E-mail : cid.bijoux@police.ge.ch
Rescue helicopter touches down on snowy lakefront
Helicopter, boats, comb Lake Geneva
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police from canton Vaud and the Lake Geneva emergency rescue services were out in force at 23:00 Wednesday, looking along the lakefront in a village near Morges for a person from the region who had gone missing. A rescue helicopter swept its searchlights over the lake, while boats combed the water along the shore and a gathering crowd of silent, worried people stood in the snow to watch the hour-long search.
The drama ended on a positive note: the teenager, who had run away, returned home Thursday morning, Vaud police spokesperson Jean-Christophe Sauterel told GenevaLunch.
Geneva and Lausanne (GenevaLunch) – Authorities are concerned that heroin being passed as cocaine is being sold on the streets. This, authorities say, can be potentially deadly for drug users.
According to authorities, snorting heroin can induce a cardio-respiratory failure. A man died in Geneva this week after snorting heroin which he believed was cocaine. The drug dealer who sold the man the fatal dose was arrested, however, authorities believe there is still more heroin on the streets being passed as cocaine.
Heroin seized by the Canton Vaud Police - Courtesy PCV
In other related news, the Canton Vaud Police announced it had dismantled a network responsible for importing 42 kilos of heroine to Switzerland within a five month period.
Fifteen people were arrested in Lausanne, Zurich and Neuchatel during the o
ne-year operation. Thirteen out of 15 people arrested were from Kosovo, where the authorities say, the drug was coming from.
Update 12:20 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Bern closed off a large area around the US Embassy in the city Wednesday morning 6 January but the area has been re-opened. A suspect object was found at the embassy and police investigated. Police and the embassy did not provide details, but embassy staff told GenevaLunch they were not evacuated.
Geneva / Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police in Geneva and Vaud are alerting the public to scams in recent days. Police in Geneva arrested two men for stealing a bag carried by a person crossing the Mont Blanc bridge in the city centre 3 January. One man stole the bag while the other alerted the owner that he had a spot on his coat, which in fact the thief had created by dumping yogurt on the coat.
Police in Nyon have arrested two people in connection with scams 1 January in the town’s centre. They told several victims they were plainsclothes police officers. They took identity and credit cards and small amounts of cash, saying they were checking the cards, then did not return them. Police are looking for other victims of the pair. Tel: +41 21 557 9621.
Update 8 January Sion, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Valais say that the information published by Le Matin concerning an avalanche Sunday 3 January was incorrect: the seven skiers caught by an avalanche that ended on a groomed slope had been skiing off-piste and set off the avalanche themselves. The group included five young people, ages 11-19. The two adults in the group, a 51-year-old Geneva man and a 44-year-old French woman, have been reported to the magistrate (judge) named to investigate the case. The newspaper had reported earlier that three young people, not part of the group, were arrested by police for setting off the avalanche.
Anzères freeriders who set off avalanche reported
The police also announced Monday that they have reported three freeriders to the magistrate investigating an avalanche that hit a groomed slope at Ayent, near Anzères, 27 December. A 34-year-old Valais woman and two men from Neuchatel, one age 32 and the other 42, joined the initial search for people caught by the avalanche, but then left the area without giving their names. They did not respond to police notices and a press release inviting them to turn themselves in, police note, but the police investigation turned up their names.
The ski-touring person who died when he and his guide were caught by an avalanche in the Val de Bagnes area near Verbier has been identified: a 56-year-old man from Bern.
Police seek Crans-Montana fireworks witnesses
The police are also looking for witnesses to New Year’s midnight celebrations at the Ycoors skating rink in Crans-Montana, where a nine-year-old boy was hurt in the eye by fireworks set off by an unknown person. Tel: +41 27 326 5656.
Also see:
- “Off-piste in Switzerland: risks, responsibilities”, 5 January 2010, GenevaLunch, on fitting the punishment to the avalanche crime
- Swiss avalanche and snow institute’s chart, European Danger Scale with Recommendations
Police in Aarhus, Denmark, have shot and wounded a Somali man carrying a knife who broke and entered the home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard after the owner hit an alarm bell to call the police. The man, say police, is a member of the radical Islamist al-Shabab militia. Westergaard became a target of Islamist extremists after he published a cartoon in 2005 of the prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, which they considered blasphemous. The cartoon led to a series of incidents involving Danish media and embassies around the world, despite an apology from the newspaper.
Myles Robinson and his sister Cara
Update 2 21:37 Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “We think he must be here somewhere, maybe in a house,” Sarah Robinson, mother of missing British 23-year-old tourist Myles Robinson, told GenevaLunch Saturday evening 26 December. Her son disappeared in the early hours of Tuesday 22 December from the small Alpine resort of Wengen, not far from Interlaken, without a trace. The young man was at the Blue Monkey bar in the car-free resort above Lauterbrunnen, then walked an old family friend home and chatted with her for a while before heading back to his family’s place at 02:00, a 200-metre walk. It was a clear night.
Myles Robinson has not been seen or heard from since.
He was expecting his girlfriend to join the family for New Year’s and he had just been hired for a job he was looking forward to, with a financial firm in London.
Police and the family have appealed to villagers to look everywhere for the missing man. His mother says that she takes hope from a tall, dark-haired cousin of Myles being asked on the streets if his name is Myles. “People are looking out.”
A police spokesperson told GenevaLunch Saturday, “We have no clues. Nothing. We called for witnesses and several people phoned, but they were mostly sightings from other villages and turned out to be false alarms.” He noted that the police can’t even say they suspect foul play because there are no clues on which to make judgements. The police investigation continues, focusing now on interviewing people around him.
Sarah Robinson says police have done a thorough job of contacting people who know her son well.
A search of the mountainside is unrealistic, given the rugged terrain – the area is famous for its cliffs, forests and some of the toughest skiing in Switzerland, including the Lauberhorn race. The police spokesperson told GenevaLunch that the Swiss Army loaned a helicopter for a flyover search of the area around the town, which turned up nothing.
But Myles Robinson was not lost while skiing: he was walking a short distance home from a bar in the centre of town at an hour when pre-Christmas revellers were still out. There is no evidence that he ever left the village, intentionally, accidentally, or through foul play.
”He doesn’t take drugs, he doesn’t smoke – he’d had a few drinks and might have been a bit tipsy but [the friend he walked home] says they talked for a while and he was fine,” Sarah Robinson says.
She is quick to say that the police “have been very good” and the family is getting help from a Swiss judge, but launching a search, for example a house to house hunt, in the town when there are no clues poses legal problems. Villagers are being asked to check every possible place, such as cellars and buildings they don’t use often.
”We know that his cell phone was still active at least at lunchtime Tuesday,” says his mother. But initial reports that it emitted a signal from the south end of Wengen have been put in perspective, given the realities of cell phones in the mountains. “We are unsure about the transmitters for Wengen and we’ve been told that, with the mountains, signals could bounce off of Murren or some other area.” Murren, Wengen and Grindelwald are three villages in the area that have long been favourites of the British, who helped develop the modern sport of downhill skiing in this area.
The Robinson family (father, mother, Myles and his sister Cara) whom the mother describes as “close”, has been coming to the resort for 15 years and Myles knows the area well. He is fit and an avid skier.
”He can’t just have disappeared without a trace!” Sarah Robinson insists. Several kinds of sniffer dogs have been used and they have not picked up any trail. Asked if they suspect he might have been pulled into a vehicle, which could explain the disappearance of his scent, she says, “It’s a car-free resort – I can’t imagine what kind of vehicle it would have been.” There are few roads down from the resort, and a vehicle leaving would most likely have been remarked by someone.
”We’re being as pro-active as we can. We’re talking to everyone we can. We want to keep this in front of the public. We’ve got to try to achieve something.”
The family is not discussing the case of Daniel Baptista, she says, “but we’re all aware of it.” Battista disappeared in 2006 from Wengen after taking mescaline, and there has been no sign of him since.
”At the end of the day, we just want to make sure we get him back. Alive, we hope.
”I’m living on hope at the moment.”
Ed. note: the disappearance of Myles has been followed closely by the UK media. Links: BBC, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Times, UK
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A late night accident on the lake road near Geneva, a young driver with too much alcohol in his system, the driver of the other car in serious condition: accidents of this sort happen often enough that they rarely make the front page of Swiss newspapers.
Add in a Lamborghini, other flashy cars, rich children of Russian commercial celebrities and a story with international headlines surfaces. Stir in local political squabbles plus what looks to some people like rich foreigners fleeing the country in the face of Swiss justice, and a continuing headliner of wealth, incompetence and scandal is born.
Geneva media, police, lawyers exchange barbs
An accident which took place 19 November in Genthod, between Geneva and Versoix, has not only made headlines, it is putting Geneva police, authorities and Swiss media in the hot seat. Wednesday 25 November Geneva’s public prosecutor, Daniel Zappelli, said he had received a police file on the case, nearly a week after the accident and the day after he complained that he had received nothing. He has now officially opened a criminal investigation.
The media say police and officials reacted too slowly but the lawyer for the accused, a Geneva police spokesperson who talked to GenevaLunch and officials have expressed dismay at local media for hyping an event without facts. Jacques Barrillon, who represents the 22-year-old driver of the Lamborghini, told Russian journalists that “The story is being inflated in every possible way, just because it features nice, expensive cars, millionaire parents and foreign passports.”
Luterbach, Solothurn, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 20-year-old American was assailed Monday 9 November around noon in the train station at Luterbach by two youths. He was kicked and punched and suffered a concussion. The two were unknown to the young man and police are seeking them, reports AP/20 Minutes (Fre).
A Russian police officer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murder by beheading of a 20-year-old on the same day that Russia’s Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said in his annual police day speech that officers should aim their weapons only at criminals, and not at peaceful citizens. His remarks highlight a series of incidents in the country where police officers have attacked citizens. The man sentenced Monday 9 November was in a friend’s taxi when the driver tried to collect 90 rubles (CHF2 approximately) for a ride that the court heard normally costs 60, in the Urals, and the young client couldn’t pay. The two older men then took him to the toilets on an allotment and proceeded to slice his neck with a pocketknife.
Links to other sites: Novosti news agency
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police shot and wounded one man at Collex-Bossy after they attempted to stop two cars from France to question them about unregistered license plates and the cars took off, with one of them attempting a maneuver that reportedly put lives in danger. The cars were stopped as part of stepped up police surveillance in the area following two post office robberies, reports AP with the Tribune de Geneve.
Best way to avoid this problem: don't speed, say police
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police in Vaud will continue to run speeding checks in their effort to reduce speeds on cantonal roads, they say, after checks during the long weekend 18-20 September caught three drivers going well over the 80kph limits: two were caught driving at 130 kph in separate incidents and another was going 158 in an 80 zone. All three had their driver’s licenses seized immediately and they face steep fines.
The police bulletin notes that 75 percent of serious and deadly accidents in the first half of 2009 occurred on cantonal roads, with high speeds as the primary cause.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Violence and hooliganism marked the FC Bâle and AS Roma football match, the first as part of the new Europa League, despite a massive police presence in Basel Thursday night. Some 50 supporters for each side, say the police, caused trouble, starting with a group of Italians before the match, notable for their violence, police said in a press release issued Friday morning 18 September. Basel won the match 2-0 and it was the Basel side hooligans who then flared after the match, throwing bottles at cars with Italian license plates.
Third update 18:15 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The waitress who was shot by a 57-year-old man Tuesday evening in Paquis, died from her wounds, Geneva police have confirmed to GenevaLunch. The man, who is British and lives in Geneva, pulled out a .357 Magnum revolver and shot the 34-year-old waitress from Senegal in the head late Tuesday night 15 September at the Good Times bar, according to 20 Minutes, on the rue de Fribourg in the Paquis district. Police say he was in an advanced state of ebriety.
According to witnesses, there was an argument over the bill. After shooting the waitress the man left, but he was intercepted by police minutes later on the corner of Rue des Alpes and the Rue de Lausanne, still in possession of the gun. He admitted to the crime.
The Geneva cantonal police reports that the man has had a permit to own the gun since 1987 but he does not have a permit to carry a gun. A permit to own gives the holder the right to transport the arm from his home to a shooting stand, unloaded. It is given after a background check. A permit to carry a gun is given to someone who can reasonably justify that he needs to protect himself, and only following a practical and theoretical test. It must be renewed every year, according to the police.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss police and cantonal and federal authorities will be coordinating their investigations more closely with their counterparts abroad as the Swiss government steps up efforts to combat animal rights activists who have been attacking pharmaceutical companies. The government announced that a dozen persons have been banned from entering the country, based on investigations to date, but no details of the attacks were provided. The activists are fighting the use of animals for pharmaceutical research.
President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya has removed the country’s police commissioner, putting Mohammed Hussein Ali in charge of the postal service instead. He also removed seven top deputies, but the official statement on the changes gives no reason. Ali was brought in six years ago to clean up the police force, which had a reputation for corruption, but human rights groups in Kenya and outside, including Human Rights Watch and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, have accused the police of looting and raping during the 2007 election riots where more than 1,000 people died. The new man in charge is Mathew Iteere, who has headed what the BBC describes as the “elite General Services Unit – the feared police shock troops often called in to control civil unrest.” Initial reaction to the changes, inside and outside Kenya, appear to be cautiously positive. BBC World Service radio, Independent Online, South Africa and 28 August editorial in AllAfrica on reforms under discussion
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Vaud late Saturday nabbed a biker whose souped-up Honda CBR600 was going 200 kph in an 80 zone on the cantonal road between Senarclens and Cossonay. His license was immediately confiscated and he is being charged with several offenses, including illegally modifying his bike and going 115 kph over the speed limit after the 5 kph margin of error was allowed.
