A 21-year-old man from Zwartemeer is held responsible for an accident in Emmen, in which a former colleague and fellow townsman was seriously injured.
The car driven by the suspect ended up at the Splitting with considerable speed against a tree. The co-driver suffered a crushed foot, ruptured spleen and damaged kidneys, among other things. The accident happened on Friday afternoon, September 3, 2021.
The criminal case against the suspect was on Tuesday. That day after work he was on his way to the snack bar with the co-driver to get food for colleagues. According to the public prosecutor, the man drove too fast in the built-up area and suddenly, without necessity, pulled the handbrake. The car, which belonged to a colleague, skidded and crashed into a tree. The driver escaped with minor injuries. Shortly after the accident, he told the police that he had become unwell.
‘Black hole’
In court, the man came up with a different story. “I was very tired. I know I was driving on a straight road toward the snack bar. Everything else is a black hole. I think I lost everything in the crash. That lasted until the moment that all emergency workers were around the car.”
Two witnesses who saw the car driving independently of each other stated that they suspect that the handbrake was pulled. It would have been honked at a running girl for that. A witness heard gas being applied and then tires slipping. “I saw him pull the handbrake and then I saw the tree coming towards me,” the victim told police.
Requirement: community service and driving ban
The suspect denied that in all tones. “The handbrake has been pulled, but not by me.” The Zwartemeerder says that the co-driver must have done it. “I don’t think I should be here. I may have been speeding, but I had nothing to do with the accident.”
The prosecutor thinks otherwise. “A technical investigation by the police shows that the man drove at least 25 kilometers per hour faster than is allowed in built-up areas. And then the handbrake was pulled. There is no other way than that the suspect did that. He has a very high degree of blame for the accident. The fact that it may have happened impulsively, as a kind of tough act, does not detract from that.”
A community service order of 200 hours and a driving ban of 24 months, of which 8 months conditionally, have been demanded against the suspect. The court will rule in two weeks.