Acquitted a driver who fled after running over a cyclist: "You feel run over by the car and justice"

David Saiz, cyclist victim of a hit-and-run in which the driver fled, this Friday on a street in Santander. Juan Manuel Serrano Arce

“I was pedaling down Bravo Murillo street in Madrid at night, with lights and reflectors.

Suddenly I felt a strong blow from behind, I saw myself in the air, the bike was thrown and then I fell to the ground and hurt my back a lot.

David Saiz, a 46-year-old teacher, recounts the accident he suffered two years ago and which caused him serious pain, two months off and six months of physical therapy rehabilitation.

According to the police, the witnesses explained that the driver got out to look "with symptoms of drunkenness" and fled.

When they located him, an hour and a half later, he had tripled his blood alcohol level.

The Criminal Court number 31 of Madrid acquitted him a few days ago.

"You feel run over by the car and by justice," denounces Saiz.

These recent examples show the situation of lack of protection suffered, according to the cycling associations, by those who ride a bike.

The Criminal Code includes serious and less serious imprudence at the wheel, leaving minor imprudence outside its scope (such as minimal distraction at the wheel).

The Association of Professional Cyclists denounces that many abuses

they are systematically archived, leaving it to the discretion of the judge to decide whether it is a minor case, and therefore goes through the civil route, or serious or less serious, which is resolved through the criminal route with a process and an investigation.

For example, a judge may now consider running a traffic light and hitting a cyclist to be minor recklessness, regardless of the severity of the victim's injuries.

To correct this situation, the PSOE promotes a reform of the Penal Code by which this type of action will become a crime as long as it causes injuries or deaths, eliminating the ability of the judge to classify it as minor imprudence.

What happened to Saiz exemplifies the vulnerability of cyclists in traffic.

“While he was on the ground, she did not feel her legs, she only thought of a friend who became quadriplegic because she was run over by a motorcycle in Castellana.

When they took me to the hospital and told me that I had no serious injuries, I burst into tears with emotion, ”she explains.

At that moment, from the stretcher itself, he recorded a video to show his impotence: "A car hit me and ran away," he said through tears.

My name is David and I am an urban cyclist.

I have been run over (raised) by a car in a CicloCarril30 of Bravo Murillo street height number 307.

It was circulating correctly in the middle of my lane going up to about 15km/h (I had just looked) (I open thread) pic.twitter.com/aA25S6FK0l

– ridemybikemadrid (@ridemybikemadrd) June 4, 2020

His ordeal did not end there.

“They sent me home.

She was in very intense pain and had bruises all over her body.

I spent several days without being able to get out of bed, taking anti-inflammatories.

I couldn't even move,” she continues.

She spent more than two months on sick leave and needed to see a physical therapist daily for more than six months.

The pain persisted for months.

And she spent almost a year without daring to ride a bike.

David Saiz did have a trial, but the judge did not consider the crime against Road Safety proven, that is, that the driver of the vehicle was drunk, since the breathalyzer test was not carried out just after the accident because he left the place .

Meanwhile, the prosecutor did not accuse the driver of the crime of escape or injury, so these aspects were not tried.

Consulted by this newspaper, the Madrid Prosecutor's Office did not want to assess the case.

"With the reform underway, in this trial it should have been considered as little that there was a less serious recklessness resulting in injuries, and that has not been judged, and this because the judge at the time would consider it minor recklessness," says the judge. expert lawyer in cyclists Alfonso Triviño.

The sentence considers as proven facts that the defendant, RMAM, left the place after the incident, and that he was located at his home by agents of the Madrid Municipal Police an hour and a half later.

He was given a breathalyzer test and it came back positive for 0.78, more than triple the allowed rate.

"The defendant presented the following external symptoms: a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, red and glassy eyes and slow movements."

The judge admits that there was a "careless driving" and that "it is perfectly logical that the accused drove drunk", but also sees it possible that it was due "to a simple inattention of the accused" (which would be a slight imprudence), and that it was not proven that he was drunk at the time, but that he could have gotten drunk later, when he got home.

Since there is reasonable doubt, he acquits him.

More information

A car runs over Alejandro Valverde in Murcia and he flees

Triviño, who has participated in the legal modification as general secretary of the Association of Professional Cyclists, points out that David Saiz's process contains errors: “In the first place, the driver was only accused of a crime against road safety for drunk driving.

There is a presumption of veracity of the agents who questioned several witnesses and all told them that the driver had symptoms of drunkenness, the judge should have taken it into account.

It is absurd to say that there is no absolute conviction because he did not take a breathalyzer test at that time ”.

And he continues: "There were assumptions to accuse the driver of less serious recklessness with injuries, since the run over person needed medical treatment, and escaped, but the prosecutor did not do it."

Therefore, he asks the Public Prosecutor to appeal the sentence,

Need for more protection

Since the reform of the Penal Code of the PP of 2015, minor infractions are not a crime, but an administrative offense that is resolved by civil means.

This change mobilized cyclists, who launched the campaign 'For a fair law' to toughen penalties.

In 2019, Parliament modified this rule to consider it a crime for a driver to leave the scene of the accident if it has caused deaths or injuries, as well as the definition of less serious negligence as that in which injuries or deaths are caused as a result of the accident. infraction of a traffic rule classified as serious (such as skipping a stop sign, yielding or a traffic light, or running over a cyclist by reaching).

“The problem is that the rule trusts the assessment to the interpretation of the judge,

For this reason, his group has promoted in Congress -now it is already in the Senate- a bill to modify the Penal Code that guarantees that if a driver commits an infraction classified as serious in the Road Safety Law (such as skipping a

or get lost looking at the mobile) that causes an accident with injuries or deaths, the judge has to judge it through criminal proceedings at least as less serious imprudence, instead of automatically sending it to civil proceedings, much less guaranteed.

“It is essential that it be judged by criminal means, because there the victim has the right to a prosecutor to investigate, to a free report and to be recognized by a forensic, while by civil means the victim must pay, in addition to the lawyer, a prosecutor and coroner.

The result is that many are forced to accept the lower offer from insurers,” says García.

Lawyer Triviño believes that when the rule comes into force, those who ride a bike will have more guarantees: "There will no longer be room for interpretation, if someone commits an infraction and causes injuries, it will automatically be at least less serious imprudence and will have to be judged by the criminal route, where it is investigated well and free of charge.

The civil route is slower and always has the danger that you will be sentenced to pay the costs of the trial and even of the opponents.

David Saiz after being run over on Bravo Murillo street in Madrid, in June 2020.

The modification of the law, carried out at the request of the cycling entities and approved by an absolute majority – with Vox voting against and the PP abstaining – has to go through another vote in the Senate in September.

If it is approved as it is —something feasible—, it will enter into force in October;

if there are amendments, they must return to Congress for final approval.

David, with the reflective vest he was wearing just before the accident on Bravo Murillo street in Madrid, in June 2020.

A few days ago, the cyclist Alejandro Valverde suffered a hit when he was pedaling with a training partner.

A vehicle recklessly overtook them, the cyclists rebuked the driver and he returned and ran over them, without causing serious injuries.

He then went on the run and later turned himself in to police.

With the modification of the norm scheduled for September, this type of crime becomes public, that is, the judicial authority will be able to investigate the facts even if there is no complaint from the victim.

A sanction of deprivation of the right to drive will also be imposed, something that has not happened until now.

Triviño goes further: "Even with the current law, if it is proven that the driver intentionally hit them, it would be attempted murder, which is a more serious crime."

García, from the PSOE, believes that sentences like Saiz's will decrease with the new rule: “It protects victims much more and guarantees them access to a fair, agile and free trial.

The police report will be mandatory – some municipalities were charging for it – and if the judge still considers that it is a slight imprudence, he will have to make a reasoned resolution, something that until now was not necessary.

While these changes arrive, Saiz laments: “I find it incredible that a person runs over another, runs away, that he is still drunk when he finds him and that they acquit him on top of that.

Justice does not protect cyclists and encourages offenders to flee.

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