A 25-year-old Dutch tourist was run over along the Paseo Maritimo in the early hours of this morning by a drunk motorcyclist. The incident happened at 5am when thousands of people were still out celebrating Halloween.
According to the police and the emergency services, the victim, who had also consumed a large quantity of alcohol, was attempting to cross the busy Palma sea front in an improper stretch of the road when he was hit by the motorcyclist who was three times over the legal alcohol limit.
The victim was flung against a friend, while the motorcyclist came off his bike as it careered across the road, coming to a halt against the crash barrier along the central reservation.
When the police arrived, they were confronted with different versions of what happened. The motorcyclist, for example, reported to the police that he had apparently been surrounded by a group of lads and beaten.
But according to eyewitnesses, the group decided to detain the motorcyclist because he was apparently trying to make a run for it.
Furthermore, he had apparently tried to recover his motorbike from the grass verge and drive off, leaving the injured victim on the road.
All of those accused denied that they had hit the motorcyclist and that any injuries he sustained were from the accident.
The local police carried out a breath test and found the motorcyclist to have been well above the legal alcohol legal and possibly under the influence of drugs. He was subsequently arrested.