Police arrest 31-year-old after axe-swinging incident on Warsaw's Gdańsk Embankment

Reports and a failed search

On Monday, 19 October, several witnesses alerted police to a man swinging an axe on Wybrzeże Gdańskie, the Gdańsk Embankment in central Warsaw. The witnesses said he also made movements resembling strikes, and he disappeared before officers reached the scene. Police circulated his description to patrols in the Śródmieście district, and officers searched the area toward the Vistula Boulevards, where police established he had headed, but they did not find him. The same day, criminal investigators secured evidence, including video footage and an image of the man.

An officer recognises him on a bus

The next day, Tuesday, 20 October, a Śródmieście officer travelling to work by city bus in Białołęka noticed a passenger whose face looked familiar. Rather than intervening alone on a bus carrying other passengers, the officer followed the man when he got off and went into an Oriental restaurant on Aluzyjna Street. He then called a patrol because of the risk of aggressive behaviour. Asp. Jakub Pacyniak, who described the sighting, said:

“That was a man wanted in connection with the incident over the Vistula.”

Officers from the Białołęka police station arrived and detained the 31-year-old at the restaurant. He was intoxicated at the time of arrest, and a breath test showed nearly two promille of alcohol in his body. Police said he had been recorded by them many times before, and the sources describe him as a Polish citizen.

Questioning and charges

After a night in a police cell and once he had sobered up, the man was questioned. According to police, he admitted swinging the axe on the Gdańsk Embankment. He was charged with exposing a person to danger of loss of life or serious bodily harm. Investigators classed the act as a misdemeanour of a hooliganism character, which is the term used in the sources. Reports differ on whether he faces one charge or several, but they agree on the offence and its classification.

The Prokuratura Rejonowa Warszawa Śródmieście-Północ district prosecutor's office is supervising the case. The reports do not say what the man's stated reasons were for the incident, and no further court dates are mentioned in the articles.

Wider police response

After the first calls, criminal detectives from the unit that deals with crimes against life and health took over the investigation. TVP reported that all Warsaw city officers received the suspect's description, which meant the search was not limited to the Śródmieście district. The arrest came about a day after the witnesses' reports and the failed search, and it was made by an officer who was on his normal commute rather than on a dedicated search assignment. Police said the officer's conduct kept passengers out of danger on the bus, since he did not confront the man there.