Belgrade street brawl: one hospitalized with brain injury

An ordinary sidewalk quarrel between two men in central Belgrade escalated into violence that sent one of them to hospital. The incident happened around 1 a.m., at the corner of Sarajevska and Durmitorska streets. According to unofficial information, it all began as the two men passed each other on the pavement.

Words turned into a physical clash within moments. One of the men, identified in the investigation by the initials B. S., reportedly knocked the other to the ground. He pinned him with his knee and struck him in the head with his fists. By the accounts gathered so far, he did not stop even after the injured man had stopped moving.

What happened on the pavement

The injured man, identified by the initials V. D., suffered a brain contusion. An ambulance crew took him to hospital, where he was kept for treatment. A brain contusion is a serious head injury and, as a rule, calls for hospital monitoring and further examinations.

The confrontation did not end there, however. Based on what is known so far, the injured man’s brother, identified by the initials N. D., joined the fight. He reportedly struck back and beat B. S. In that way the original attacker also suffered injuries, but far lighter ones.

After the on-site investigation, police held N. D. The other participant, B. S., was released and charged, as his injuries were assessed as minor. The competent prosecutor’s office has yet to determine the legal classification for each participant, which means the roles of attacker and victim in this case cannot be drawn simply.

Sarajevska and the streets around the corner with Durmitorska are not empty in the early hours. This is a part of the city near the railway area and busy roads, where pedestrians move even after midnight. That, according to unofficial information, is why there were witnesses who saw or heard part of the clash.

Who will answer for the late-night fight?

This is one of those cases in which the first impression can mislead. The news that surfaced at first spoke of two men and a single attack. Only later did it emerge that a third person, the injured man’s brother, had taken part, and that the confrontation had two phases.

For the legal assessment, that is crucial. Prosecutors will have to establish who used force first, whether the later violence was proportionate, and whether anyone acted in self-defence. The on-site investigation, witness statements and the medical records on both men’s injuries will form the basis for the decision on how to classify the offence. Until a final ruling, all participants are presumed innocent.

For now, only a few facts are certain. One man is in hospital with a brain contusion. Another is held by police. A third was released and charged. Everything else, including the question of who started the clash, remains for the investigators to verify.

Cases like this, a small spark that within minutes sends a person to hospital, recur on Belgrade’s streets more often than the statistics suggest. How much do we really know about how many street fights in the city centre end in serious injury?