Fatal accident in central Brașov: case taken over by Tribunal Prosecutor's Office, driver suffered from neurological disease
Two young men died and one was seriously injured on Tuesday evening on Mureșenilor Street in Brașov. The Tribunal Prosecutor's Office took over the case due to its complexity and intense media coverage.
Brașov Tribunal Prosecutor's Office takes over case of accident with two deaths on Mureșenilor Street
The Prosecutor's Office at Brașov Tribunal took over on Friday the road accident case that occurred on Tuesday evening on Mureșenilor Street in the centre of Brașov municipality, in which two young men lost their lives and one was seriously injured. According to News.ro, the decision to take over from the Prosecutor's Office at Brașov Court was motivated by the "complexity of the case and its intense media coverage".
The victims are a 25-year-old Romanian and a 34-year-old German citizen, both deceased, and another 31-year-old German citizen, seriously injured, after being hit by a motor vehicle that went out of control.
Driver diagnosed with chronic neurological disease 18 years ago
The head of the Prosecutor's Office at Brașov Tribunal, prosecutor Adrian Radu, presented on Friday the investigators' main working hypothesis: the driver had suffered for 18 years from a chronic neurological disease and for three to four years had not been following the prescribed treatment.
"From initial investigations, it was established that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol and not under the influence of drugs, which is why explanations were sought and it was established that he has a medical history, a chronic neurological disease, with which he was diagnosed 18 years ago," said prosecutor Radu.
When asked whether this disease is incompatible with the status of driver, he responded that "it is absolutely not incompatible", but emphasised that it must be "monitored like any disease that can affect the psychological and motor abilities of a person" and that the treatment must be followed "responsibly".
"This disease requires responsibility, treatment and following the treatment responsibly, which, from our checks, did not happen over the last three, even four years with the driver," clarified Adrian Radu. The last prescription issued by doctors was in 2022, and at present the man was not following any medical treatment.
Declared fit to drive in 2020
The prosecutor mentioned that in 2020 the man renewed his driving licence and was evaluated by doctors at a clinic in Brașov, being declared fit to drive. Radu clarified that investigating the possibility that the family doctor or specialist doctor notified the Traffic Police with a view to revoking the licence represents "a collateral hypothesis that is not yet the subject of this investigation".
"We have taken on a case of culpable homicide, and this hypothesis is one that could be the subject of another act, other offences, other cases," emphasised the head of the Brașov Tribunal Prosecutor's Office.
Regarding possible criminal liability of the doctors who declared him fit in 2020, the prosecutor invoked the risk of the statute of limitations for criminal liability expiring, mentioning that it could at most be a matter of intellectual forgery or private forgery.
Driver detained for 24 hours, without relevant prior offences
The man was on Friday "under a detention order for 24 hours", issued by police authorities on Thursday evening at 22:10. Adrian Radu explained that any preventive measure "is not a measure that sanctions, but one that prevents" and that its necessity must be assessed not only in relation to the gravity of the offence, but also to the risk that the accused might evade criminal proceedings.
The prosecutor showed that over approximately three decades since holding a driving licence, the driver had accumulated only two or three traffic violations. "The absolute necessity of a preventive measure cannot be claimed in this discussion, but will have to be determined by the case prosecutor, in relation to all the facts of the case and the manner in which the accused intends to participate in criminal proceedings," concluded Adrian Radu.
Additionally, the head of the prosecutor's office denied information according to which the man would hold a "special status", such as that of a pensioner from military or special structures. "If he had held such a status, this would have attracted the jurisdiction of other Prosecutor's Office structures than the Tribunal Prosecutor's Office," he clarified.
Source: News.ro