Source: The Prosecutor’s Office urges to request provisional prison for drivers who…
Found on: 2022-09-17 09:05:24
Updated Saturday, 17 September 2022 – 11:05
Remember that the penalty that can fall to them increases by adding the crime of abandoning the claim to the homicide
Image of an accidentMOSSOCourts Sentenced to almost six years in prison to a kamikaze driver who killed a couple of motorcyclists in Badalona after ramming them
Responsibility towards others begins with oneself. A few years ago, a reform of the Criminal Code came into force, establishing it as a punishment when a driver who has been involved in an accident with deaths or injuries decides to leave the scene of the accident “voluntarily, and without there being any risk to third parties.” It is a crime that can further affect the criminal reproach towards the driver since it shows not only that his recklessness could cost lives or serious injuries, but also that he has little empathy by not staying to help those affected or clarify the causes of the accident. .
Since the entry into force of this crime there are more and more fatal accidents in which it is found that a driver leaves the place, as police sources explain to this medium. This is a situation that can aggravate the criminal reproach faced by the person under investigation, which is why the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office warns that precautionary measures should be demanded from more drivers who transgress this crime against traffic safety.
In its report from last year, the Special Service against Road Safety Crimes of the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office, coordinated by the prosecutor Isabel López Riera, recalls that the adoption of precautionary measures is “exceptional” against drivers who have caused, due to excessive speed, or circulate under the influence of alcohol and drugs, a fatal accident “even when there has been a result of death” since “the roots of people in many of the perpetrators that minimizes the risk of escape, the impossibility of destroying evidence or the impossibility of attacking the victim again determine that the provisional prison is not pertinent”.
Thus he details that with other types of measures, such as removing the driving license, appearances in court or requisitioning the vehicle, they were sufficient. Despite this, the report highlights that with the appearance of the crime of abandoning the accident site, the situation changes: “The flight is a clear indication of a will to steal. any fear of concealing and/or destroying the source of evidence (repair of the impact on the vehicle, destruction of the same, etc.), and the penalty he faces is also much greater (up to four years for homicide and another four for abandonment). if the homicide is due to recklessness) so the need and relevance of the precautionary measure of provisional imprisonment may, depending on the case, not only be relevant, but also very necessary, both to guarantee that the person under investigation submits to the action of justice and that the judicial traffic police can carry out all the investigations necessary to investigate the crime”.
In this way, the Prosecutor’s Office considers that provisional prison for drivers should be requested in cases of serious accidents in which there are indications that a death or significant injuries were committed due to recklessness and lack of responsibility when driving, such as having taken drugs and alcohol, going too fast or not respecting the safety distance, among others. Although the Public Ministry emphasizes that each case has specific characteristics, prosecutors are increasingly requesting this provisional prison in the courts due to the penalties that the person under investigation may face and their unwillingness to collaborate with the Justice by leaving the place. of the casualty.
In this sense, the traffic agents carry out numerous forensic tests to determine the causes of the accident and that elements such as braking tracks, damage to each vehicle, the type of road or the impact on external areas of the road are taken into account. . A fleeing driver prevents this investigation, considers the Prosecutor’s Office, in addition to the fact that he can carry out actions in his vehicle to hide the crime, such as repairing damage or erasing remains left after the collision, among others.
Last year the police made 77 reports for the crime of escape or abandonment of the accident site. The Prosecutor’s Office has referred 13 cases to the criminal court with an indictment and it is noted that there are two convictions. In one of them, from January 2021, the Barcelona Court sentenced a kamikaze driver to five years and nine months in prison who in March 2020 caused the death of a couple of motorcyclists when he was driving drunk and drugged, at excessive speed, in the opposite direction and with the points of the card removed through the streets of Badalona. In addition, they applied the crime of flight.
The report indicates that of the total crimes against road safety committed last year in Barcelona, 40% continue to be due to driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages and drugs, followed by driving without ever having obtained a permit or license or with loss of points. These two modalities add up to more than 80% of all crimes. Among them is the manipulation of tachographs by merchandise transport trucks, of which there were six complaints last year.
Although the Prosecutor’s Office points out that it is “a practically irrelevant modality” in terms of the number of crimes, it highlights its importance in the “expert” test of the !EDR (Event Data Recorder) which represents a real revolution in the techniques of investigating traffic accidents . The data that this new technique makes it possible to know means taking a 180-degree turn in the analysis and knowledge of the causes and reasons for the accident,” says the prosecutor, recalling that a proceeding in the 27th Criminal Court of Barcelona in October 2019 “which had Its object is the prosecution of a possible crime of driving under the influence of alcohol, excessive speed and injuries with the particularity of the evidence of an EDR expert report carried out at the request of the insurance company of one of the vehicles involved in the process and presented together with the defense brief, it determined the change in the legal classification of this Ministry, passing from provisional acquittal conclusions to convictions”. The court condemned, validating the expert opinion and the Barcelona Court ratified it.
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