A 16-year-old boy with Bosnian background has been charged with assault after a traffic altercation. He is suspected of having punched a Swedish EPA driver in the face, causing bleeding—something he himself describes as “self-defense.” The 16-year-old has stated that the Swede blocked his way in the lane. Afterwards, however, he allegedly wrote to the victim to apologize for what happened.
It was on February 28 this year that a 17-year-old Swedish boy was driving his EPA tractor north on Stockholmsvägen in Eksjö when a silver-gray Volvo V70 approached from behind with a “provocative and aggressive manner of driving.”
The V70 then rapidly overtook him despite oncoming traffic, after which it turned left and disappeared at very high speed through a residential area.
The EPA boy thought he recognized the car and therefore drove in the same direction. However, when he arrived, he realized it was not the people he thought were in the car and turned around to drive back.
Then he was stopped by one of the people, the 16-year-old Arvin Alimanovic. The EPA boy rolled down his window, at which point Alimanovic began shouting at him, telling him that he shouldn’t follow them and that he didn’t belong there.
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Two punches to the face
He then yanked open the car door and grabbed the boy. He punched him twice in the face with his fist while holding him with his other hand.
“NN drove away with a bleeding face, so that blood ran down his clothes and onto the car’s interior,” according to police interrogations. Afterward, he contacted his father and visited the urgent care center in Eksjö for an examination.
The EPA driver was not alone during the assault; his girlfriend was with him and has testified to the police. She describes the same course of events as her victimized boyfriend. About Alimanovic’s behavior just before the assault, she says:
– And then he shouts a lot. “What the hell are you doing here in my area?”, “What are you doing here?”
“I am so terribly sorry”
Alimanovic has tried to contact the victim via Snapchat after the assault. In one of several messages he sent, he says he wants “to apologize for what happened” and would like “to put this behind us.”
In police interrogations he admits to having sent the messages, and to having struck the victim, but claims on his part it was “self-defense” as the victim allegedly hit him first.
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Admits to punch—but claims self-defense
In police interviews, Alimanovic has admitted that he punched the victim but claimed he acted in self-defense, as he claimed that the EPA blocked his way when they tried to overtake, and that the victim then followed them and provoked them.
– He drives all the way in, turns the car around, and then revs the engine again. And I think, what is he doing? So I started laughing at him, he said during the interrogation.
According to Alimanovic, the EPA driver then got out of his car and threw a right punch that grazed his shoulder. That’s when he gave him “a punch with my fist” and told him to “get the fuck out of here.”
Charged—denies wrongdoing
He is now charged, against his denial, with assault of normal severity; the case is being handled by Eksjö District Court. The prosecutor believes he acted with intent.
The EPA driver’s girlfriend has also been called as a witness, as she was in the passenger seat during the assault.
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It is not only in traffic that the now-charged man is suspected of taking issue with others. He has also expressed irritation on social media.
This time, it was about having to see posts from the Sweden Democrats in his feed. On one of the party’s posts, he commented: “Exaggerate with SD stuff.”