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Driver in Dutch attack dies of brain trauma

Dutch Princess Maxima and Prince Willem-Alexander are pictured after a car slammed into a Dutch crowd celebrating Queens Day in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, on Thursday. PHOTO: EPA

A car driver who sought to ram the Dutch royal family but killed five onlookers died of his injuries yesterday, the prosecution service said.

“The 38-year-old man from Huissen [in the eastern Netherlands] who is suspected of an attack on the royal family died of his injuries in hospital at 2:58am,” spokesman Wim de Bruin told reporters.

He had suffered severe brain trauma.

“His death means the end of the criminal investigation against him,” said de Bruin, adding that the investigation would continue in a bid to determine what had happened and whether more people were involved.

Officials said on Thursday they had arrested the driver of the black car that slammed into the foot of a monument after mowing down people gathered for the annual Queen’s Day royal procession in the central city of Apeldoorn.

The man, identified in the Dutch press as Karst S, confessed to police that his action was aimed against the royal family before being hospitalized with critical injuries.

Eleven people remained injured in hospitals yesterday.

“A search of the home of the suspect yielded no weapons, explosives or indications of a broader conspiracy,” a prosecution statement said.

Dutch media reported yesterday that the man had recently lost his job and apartment.

Bright skies and a festive Queen’s Day mood had brought thousands out to greet their popular monarch, many of them wearing the bright orange national colors and orange wigs.

As Queen Beatrix and her family passed by in an open bus, a black car suddenly burst through police barriers, catapulting spectators into the air before slamming into the monument.

The speeding car passed within a few meters of the bus the royal family were traveling in, but none of them were hurt.

Officials called it a deliberate attack on the House of Orange, the monarchy that has symbolically ruled Holland since 1815 and is widely respected if not revered.

“I think that it has become clear that this happened with premeditation,” Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said.

“The man said that his action was aimed at the royal family,” prosecutor Ludo Goossens said.

Officials in Apeldoorn said the suspect carried a map of the queen’s route.

Shortly before the attack, the queen, her son Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his popular Argentine-born wife, Princess Maxima, had walked up to the crowd behind police barricades, accepting flowers and shaking hands.

Celebrations were canceled for Queen’s Day, a national holiday that draws millions of people to parades, street dances, picnics and outdoor parties around the country. Flags were lowered to half staff.

A shaken Queen Beatrix extended her sympathies to the victims in a brief nationally televised address.

“What began as a great day has ended in a terrible tragedy that has shocked us all deeply,” she said.

“We are speechless that something so terrible could have happened,” the queen said. “My family, and I think everybody in the country, sympathize with the victims, their families and friends and all who have been hit so hard by this accident.”
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