The Public Security Police (PSP) indicated in a statement that there was a warrant for the arrest of the 30-year-old man for the crime of offense to serious physical integrity, which occurred five years ago in Portimão.

“At the time of the facts, at the age of 25, with no legal license to drive and with blood alcohol, he ran over about 13 people on a road limited to circulation”, reads the document.

The man was sentenced in the court of first instance to six and a half years in prison, but he appealed, and in 2019 the Évora Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to six years for being “a primary offender and showing himself to be socially integrated”.

However, the accused did not appear to serve the effective sentence, which led to the arrest warrant.

The facts date back to the dawn of 12 July, 2015, when the man, while driving on a road with conditioned traffic, disobeyed two orders to stop by the police and accelerated in full speed running over 13 people on Avenida Tomás Cabreira, next to the Catedral disco, at Praia da Rocha, in Portimão.

The PSP said at the time that the man tried to escape, but he was caught right away, having revealed an alcohol rate of 0.7 grams per litre of blood.

In court, the driver claimed that he was scared to see the police and that he still tried to brake but was unable to.

The 13 wounded were assisted at the scene and then transported to the Barlavento Algarvio hospital, where two of them were considered seriously injured.

The man detained on Monday in Sacavém was taken to the Lisbon Prison to serve six years in prison.