German authorities decided to keep jurisdiction in the case of the U.S. airman under investigation in a fatal wrong-way autobahn crash May 3, 2025, near Spangdahlem Air Base. The airman was legally intoxicated at the time of the head-on collision, the Trier public prosecutor's office said in a statement May 26. (Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — An American airman who was driving the wrong way on the autobahn and killed a German woman in a head-on collision this month had a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit, according to local prosecutors.

The Spangdahlem Air Base airman’s case will be handled by German authorities rather than the U.S. military, the Trier public prosecutor’s office said in a statement Monday. He is being investigated on suspicion of negligent homicide and endangering road traffic, the statement said.

His blood alcohol concentration was 0.14% at the time of the early morning collision May 3 on the A60 near Landscheid, according to prosecutors. The legal limit in Germany is 0.05% in most cases.

The 23-year-old driver of the other car was killed, and two passengers were seriously injured. The airman had minor injuries from the crash and remains in custody at Spangdahlem, a 52nd Fighter Wing official said in a statement Tuesday.

The collision occurred about 6 miles east of the base in the rural Eifel region. The wing declined to release the airman’s name and unit, citing the ongoing investigation and the fact that German prosecutors have yet to file criminal charges.

Germany has primary jurisdiction in cases involving a U.S. service member and a German citizen, but it usually waives this right under a supplementary provision to the 1951 NATO Status of Forces Agreement.

However, the agreement allows the waiver to be withdrawn within 21 days for egregious offenses such as robbery, rape or crimes that result in death.

In the past six years, German authorities have ceded jurisdiction to the U.S. military in at least two fatal cases involving American service members.

One of those cases was the highly publicized murder trial of a Spangdahlem airman in October. A military court found Airman 1st Class Grant Harrison not guilty of unpremeditated murder in the stabbing death of martial artist Michael Ovsjannikov.

Ovsjannikov, 28, was killed Aug. 19, 2023, during an early morning altercation at a street fair in nearby Wittlich.

Harrison’s acquittal sparked outrage in the communities around Spangdahlem and led to several protests outside the base. Residents at the protests said it had created mistrust in the U.S. military’s judicial system.

The prosecutor’s office said the decision to retain jurisdiction in the latest case was based on the number of victims involved.

If the case were to go to trial, the German court system would allow for family members of the deceased and the victims who were injured to participate as joint plaintiffs with their own attorneys, in contrast with procedures in American military courtrooms.

“The decision was made after discussing the facts of the case with the U.S. military justice system and weighing all the circumstances of the specific case,” the statement said.