Driver of the 'Hammer' Who Drove on the Sidewalk of the Government Building Injured Himself in Prison

The elusive driver of the 'Hammer', Gegham Saharadyan, is currently at the Masiv court of Yerevan. He has reportedly engaged in self-harm while in Nubarashen prison, as reported by Armlur.am.

On February 11, 2023, a complaint was submitted to the investigative division of the Central and Norq-Marash administrative districts regarding an incident that took place on February 10 at around 23:30. A car of the 'Hammer' brand approached traffic police officers at Republic Square, and the driver demanded money from them to charge his vehicle.

After being refused, displaying outright disrespect towards the public, he drove against traffic down Abovyan Street, ignoring the police officers' 'stop' signal. He continued driving along Arami, P. Byuzandi, V. Sargsyan, Agathangeghos, Tigran Mets, and Amiryan streets, intentionally damaging eight parked civilian vehicles.

Afterward, he drove into a non-trafficable area opposite the Government Administrative Building, where he continued to disregard the legal requests from the patrol service, hitting one officer and deliberately damaging three patrol vehicles.

In order to stop these actions, the patrol officers fired several rounds at the vehicle's tires from close range. However, the driver continued to flee, leaving his vehicle under the vault of building 7 on Agathangeghos Street and escaping on foot.

Following the driving maneuvers, it was discovered that the 'Hammer' vehicle belonged to Gegham S. from the Ararat region, who was presumed to be under the influence of drugs. His father, aware of his son’s drug addiction, had hidden the car keys from him; however, the young man searched and found the spare key, after which he drove from the region to Yerevan.

Gegham Saharadyan has been arrested following the incident and remains in custody at the Nubarashen penitentiary. His parents reported that their son had recently engaged in self-harm while in prison.