The judge investigating the German driver who collided with Ángel Nieto’s quad On July 26, 2017, in the accident in which the pilot died, he has filed the case again and exonerated the woman.
Magistrate Paloma Poveda, of the trial court 2 of Ibizastates in a car to which OPEN CASE has accessed, that the driver of the Fiat 600 that hit the rear of Nieto’s vehicle when leaving a roundabout committed in any case a “mild impudence”, by “not maintaining the safety distance necessary to react to a possible harsh braking who was driving in front”.
No distractions
The judge rejects that the woman, investigated by reckless homicide and defended by lawyer Jaime Campanercommitted serious imprudence, such as driving “excessive speed” or being distracted behind the wheel.
It concludes that the cause of Nieto’s death, who died from a head injury after being thrown from his vehicle, “connects” with the fact that the pilot was wearing the unfastened helmetas several witnesses declared: “the impact, as it occurred directly on the head free of protectionmust have caused, according to the rules of experience, a substantially more relevant damage than that which would have occurred if it had been cushioned by the properly placed helmet, an obligation of the quad driver”.
Few defects
The judge’s order also establishes the speed at which Ángel Nieto and the German woman were traveling, according to the expert reconstruction carried out by the investigators: the pilot was driving at between 6 and 19 kilometers per hour, while the investigated did between 22 and 32 kilometers per hour. Speed values ”low and consistent with the insignificance of the damage observed in the vehicles involved” in the event.
These data give “plausibility” to the version of the driver, who lives on the island and who He was on his way to pick up his children. and was in good physical condition at the time of the accident. The woman maintained from the beginning that Nieto “slammed on the brakes” and she could do nothing to avoid the blow. She added that, while she was driving behind the mythical pilot, she could not see the brake lights of her vehicle.
Defects in the quad
The truth is that the report prepared by the Civil Guard, which adds that the accident occurred on a road with “good visibility”pointed out the existence of numerous defects in Nieto’s quadsuch as “the rear position light and brake light were covered by mud” at the time of the accident, “preventing it from being seen by other road users.”
Additionally, “the right rear direction indicator was located detached from its natural positionworking correctly, but hindering its visibility”, a major failure, according to investigators, because Nieto was “about to turn right to access a parking lot” when he was hit by the driver.
First file
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The court already closed the case in 2017, concluding that “there are no indications that the result that occurred was caused by a lack of absolute attention to driving on the part of the person involved,” but Nieto’s family appealed that decision arguing that the judge had closed it without even take a statement from the other driver.
In 2018, the Palma Court agreed with him and ordered the Ibiza magistrate to resume the investigation. Five years later, after carrying out all the agreed procedures, the judge has concluded that there is no evidence to hold the woman responsible for the death of the thirteen-time motorcycling world champion.