Four years in jail for a drunk driver who killed a cyclist and did not stop to help him | Spain
A driver from Cantabria has been sentenced to four years in prison for drunk, run over and kill to a 67 -year -old cyclist, after which he continued his way without stopping to assist or give notice of the accident. The sentence has been in accordance with the Prosecutor’s Office, the private accusation and the defense of the author of the overwhelming, which will also be removed by the driving card for three years, six months and one day, as reported on Friday the Superior Court of Justice of Cantabria.
The sentence, issued by the head of the Criminal Court number 3 of Santander, Eva Aja Lavín, considers that the defendant, Alejandro AC, drove the vehicle of his property on February 11, 2023 by the Autonomous Highway CA-334, which unites Sierrapando with Zurita (Piélagos). Around 7.30 and when you reach the kilometer 2,500 point, “after a night without rest, After alcohol intake And without paying attention to the circumstances of traffic, ”he circulated at a speed of between 57 and 70 kilometers per hour, in a section with a speed limit of 50. At that time, he invaded the opposite direction of the march and collided frontally with the cyclist, Florentino Gómez, 67 years. The magistrate died when she was being transferred to the Valdecilla Hospital, in Santander.
The ruling also states that the driver did not give any help to the cyclist, nor did he requested the third party, « despite carrying a mobile phone. » He was absent from the scene of the accident, « leaving the victim to his fate. » The sentence imposes two years and six months in jail for a crime of homicide for serious recklessness (typified in article 142.1 of the Criminal Code) and on the other against road safety to the driving under the influence of alcohol (Article 379.2 of the Criminal Code). The remaining year and a half of prison corresponds to a crime of abandonment of the accident site (article 382 bis 1 and 2), to which the attenuating drunkenness is applied.
The cyclist’s family has reserved to initiate judicial actions for the driver’s civil liability. So far, the wife of the deceased, with whom she had married for more than 30 years, has received 179,173.95 euros for personal damage and emerging damage, while her daughter, who still lived in the family home, has obtained 59,988.90 euros; The already independent son, 24,281.22 euros and his grandson, 12,378.66 euros. The conviction will also have to pay the judicial costs, including that of the private accusation.
The sentence is already firm, that is, there is no appeal, « having advanced the failure verbally and the parties have expressed its will not to resort to. » The Prosecutor’s Office requested six years in prison (three for the crime of homicide for serious recklessness and three others for the abandonment of the accident site), in addition to the withdrawal of the driving card definitively. The private accusation, exercised by the family, raised the sentence to eight years in prison. Being a sentence of more than two years, the driver must enter prison. The suspension of this measure is only given in sentences that collect sentences of less than two years and if the defendant lacks current criminal records. The judge has given him 10 days to do so voluntarily, since, otherwise, he will decree his search and detention.
In 2023, 90 cyclists died on Spanish roads –10 cases rather than in 2022— and 10 users of the so -called personal mobility vehicles (VMP; Sicks and the like). A total of 353 pedestrians (20%) lost their lives that year, the vast majority in urban roads (223) compared to interurban (130).
