Hürth, Germany: Driver sentenced to over four years for fatal crash into schoolchildren
In June 2025 a 21‑year‑old driver ran a red traffic light in Hürth, near Cologne, and collided with a group of primary‑school children crossing the road. A ten‑year‑old girl and a 25‑year‑old school aide were killed. The driver was charged with negligent homicide and negligent bodily injury.
On 10 July 2026 the Cologne Regional Court (Landgericht Köln) delivered its verdict. The court found the driver guilty of negligent homicide in conjunction with negligent bodily injury and dangerous interference with traffic. He was sentenced to four years and six months of youth detention, a driving ban of two years and eleven months, and ordered to pay €190,000 in compensation to the victims’ families. The prosecution had sought a four‑and‑a‑half‑year sentence. The court emphasized the driver’s “exceptionally high” level of negligence, noting he had been travelling up to 57 km/h, ignored a red light that had been showing for four seconds, and only looked left before the collision, making braking impossible. The case has shocked the town of Hürth and drawn significant media attention in Germany.