The mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, not only tested positive for alcohol after being involved in a traffic accident, but also more than tripled the permitted alcohol level. The limit is 0.25 milligrams of alcohol per liter of exhaled air and Machín had a result of 0.89 in the first test and 0.81 in the second.
In fact, that is precisely why the agents sent the proceedings to the Court to initiate criminal proceedings. If a driver tests positive but does not exceed 0.6 milligrams, it is processed as an administrative infraction and a fine is imposed directly, but above that rate, it is considered a crime.
The case thus reached the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife, which last Thursday already issued a sentence after Machín acknowledged the facts and accepted an agreement of conformity. The ruling, which La Voz has now had access to, includes not only the result of that alcohol test, but also the report of the agents of the Local Police of Tinajo who intervened.
“They appreciated in Jesús Casimiro Machín Duque symptoms of intoxication such as a congested face, dull gaze, dilated pupils, slurred speech, very strong alcoholic halitosis from close range, lack of logical connection in expressions, repetition of phrases and ideas, and oscillating movement of the verticality of the body”, the judge states in the proven facts. That is why they gave him the alcohol test, which came back positive, even exceeding the limit to be considered a crime.
The mayor of Coalición Canaria already apologized last Friday for what happened, although he had not yet revealed the result of this test. In fact, he only referred to another one that was done to him later in the hospital, and which he claims was negative. However, the sentence does not even refer to it, not even to point out that it exists. That analysis that Machín himself has disseminated through some media, but that would not have reached the Court, actually yields an even higher result. Specifically, it reflects 242 mg/dl (milligrams per deciliter) of alcohol in the blood, which is equivalent to 2.42 grams per liter. And in the case of the blood test, the maximum allowed is 0.5 grams per liter, so it multiplied it almost by five.
"Three beers" and "medication", according to Machín
The ruling of the Court of Instruction also makes no mention of the alleged consumption of medications that Jesús Machín claimed this Monday to justify what happened. In those statements on Radio Lanzarote – Onda Cero, the mayor stated that he only “remembered” having taken “three beers” and suggested that he might have suffered a “fainting spell” due to the combination with the medication. However, the sentence, which he accepted in accordance, also makes no reference to this, while it does emphasize the result of the test and the signs of “intoxication” that he presented.
In this regard, in the proven facts it indicates that the mayor was driving “with his faculties diminished as a result of a prior alcoholic ingestion, which considerably impaired his ability to handle the detection, control and braking mechanisms of a vehicle, as well as increased the reaction time to unforeseen events in said driving, with loss of reflexes and visual capacity”.
It was then that he had the accident, “at approximately 9:21 p.m.” on Tuesday, February 16, which was a holiday due to Carnival, although any type of event had been prohibited due to the health crisis and the alert level 4 in which Lanzarote is located. According to the ruling, “he lost control of the vehicle, colliding against the wall of a house on Peña de San Roque street, in the municipality of Tinajo”.
As a result of the collision, the wall suffered significant damage, but the owner did not claim in court. In this regard, Machín assured this Monday that he has taken care of repairing it. As for the vehicle, it belonged to a company, which, according to the ruling, had not filed a claim in court either.
After learning of the accusation from the Public Prosecutor's Office, which initially requested a penalty of 1,620 euros fine and the withdrawal of the license for a period of one year and three days, Machín “agreed with the facts stated and the criminal claims”, so the trial was not held and a sentence was issued at that time that is no longer appealable, applying a reduction in the penalties.
Thus, he was imposed a fine of 1,080 euros and a prohibition from driving motor vehicles or mopeds for eight months, as well as the payment of court costs, for a crime of driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages.
