Berlin road rage driver 'threatens' ambulance crew saving a child

Emergency services were allegedly blocked from accessing their equipment by an enraged motorist. Photo / Getty file image

A road rage incident in which a motorist attacked an ambulance and blocked paramedics trying to save the life of an unconscious child has sent shock waves through Germany.

The 23-year-old motorist, who has not been named, flew into a rage after his car was blocked in by the ambulance in central Berlin.

Paramedics were trying to resucitate a 10-year-old boy who had collapsed while playing at a local school.

But the angry motorist blocked them from retrieving an oxygen mask and attacked the ambulance, tearing off one of its wing mirrors.

"P*** off! I've got to get to work" he said, according to one of the paramedics.

"I explained to him that we are trying to resucitate a child and cannot move the ambulance," the paramedic told Bild newspaper. "But he took up a threatening posture in front of me, as if he was about to hit me."

"I don't care who is being resucitated," the motorist said, according to the paramedic.

Police had to be called to restrain the motorist so paramedics could reach their equipment. The paramedics were able to save the child from immediate danger, but he is now in an induced coma in hospital while doctors battle to keep him alive.

The child, who has been named as Leonard Funke, was suffering ventricular fibrillation, a form of irregular heart beat that can be fatal if untreated.

"This man's behavior is unbelievable and inhuman," Thomas Funke, the child's father, said. "My son's life was in danger, and he only thought of himself."

The incident took place last week, but it was only over the weekend that the full details emerged.

The unnamed motorist is now facing charges of destruction of property for damaging the ambulance. If found guilty, he could face a fine or two-year prison sentence. The paramedics chose not to press charges over his threats of violence.

But prosecutors could yet decide to charge him with the more serious offence of obstructing rescue workers, which carries a possible three-year prison sentence.