Family Crashes Gate in Berlin Wall

A speeding truck driver swerved through East German police gunfire and crashed through the Berlin Wall’s Checkpoint Charlie early today with a woman and a baby huddled on the floor of the dump truck, West Berlin police said.

The East German gunfire drew an immediate protest from Western allies, who labeled such shootings “inhumane practices.”

The three East Berliners escaped into West Berlin without injury at 12:05 a.m., police officer Guenter Gadaschewski said.

The escape was one of the most spectacular through the 100-mile wall built by Communist authorities 25 years ago. About 75 people have been killed in attempts to flee to the West since it was built.

A West Berlin police officer said: “It was all over in five to 10 seconds. . . . I suppose he had surprise on his side.”

As klaxons sounded, the truck sped toward the final double-steel doors as they were closing with just seconds to spare and smashed into one side, buckling it and ripping stones from the wall.

The driver then accelerated the 30 yards from the final gate to the white East-West demarcation line.

“I tried to flag him down, but he just drove on off into the city,” the policeman said.

The 7.5-ton blue truck, carrying the markings of an East German state building firm and filled with gravel, first smashed through a red-and-white-striped barrier where guards normally make an initial passport check.

It then drove down a lane reserved for buses, plowing through a low, iron-barred gate, smashing a glass screen and scattering concrete.

Forty yards farther, past customs sheds and under the gaze of watchtowers, it destroyed another iron-barred gate, removing the last obstacle to the final gate.

Police said East German guards fired at least three shots at the vehicle.

Viewed at a police impound garage in West Berlin, the front of the truck bore an iron plate, possibly used for snow clearing, which took the impact of the barriers. The driver’s window had been smashed and the wing window crushed, probably by the gate.

Inside the cab was a green blanket and shattered glass. The loading section was piled high with sand. No bullet marks were found on the truck.

Police did not release the identity of the family.

Another young East German couple fled across the frontier today, scaling border fortifications and barbed wire barricades near the West German town of Kassel.