Stones thrown from bridges: Police are looking for witnesses in Oldenburg and Lingen!

Stones thrown from bridges: Police are looking for witnesses in Oldenburg and Lingen!

In the early evening hours of July 19, 2025, unknown perpetrators caused worrying moments in traffic in Oldenburg and Lingen. In both locations, objects were thrown from bridges onto the streets below. According to reports from the NDR This happened in Oldenburg around 9 p.m. when stones fell from a pedestrian and bicycle bridge onto Am Schmeel Street. Fortunately, at least one rock hit the roof of a car, leaving the occupants uninjured. The police have found more stones under the frame of the bridge and are now looking for the perpetrators, but so far without success.

Similar incidents had already been reported in Lingen around 7:40 p.m. An object was thrown from a bridge onto Bundesstraße 70, also known as Rheiner Straße. The windshield of a Multivan was damaged, but luckily there were no injuries. The Emsland police are also looking for witnesses to these dangerous actions.

Investigations underway

Both incidents are under the law § 315b StGB that regulates dangerous interventions in road traffic. This provision requires that the acts cause a concrete danger to life, limb or other people's property of significant value. Such actions that interfere with traffic from outside can be classified as criminal, especially if they are carried out intentionally.

However, the Oldenburg police have ruled out a connection between the two events and are investigating in all directions. And this is exactly where it gets exciting: What can the legislature do to prevent such dangerous interventions? From a legal perspective, the penalties for such acts can range from fines to five years in prison, especially if there are serious consequences such as damage to health.

The lawyer Erhard explains that the offense clearly requires intentional actions and that it is important that there is a concrete risk to traffic safety from such actions. Based on the current investigations, the police now have to examine, among other things, the intention and dangerous nature of these interventions in order to arrest the perpetrators.

In view of the sad story that 12 to 16 year olds have been caught in such cases in the past, many people frown. What drives young people to commit such dangerous acts? And above all: how can you stop them? It is a topic that raises more questions than it offers answers - and the whole of Germany is watching these developments with interest.