"I don't remember anything". That is what the Chief of the Local Police of Tías has stated during the trial he faced this Wednesday in the Criminal Court number 1 of Arrecife, accused of a crime of attacking law enforcement agents and another against road safety, and the Prosecutor's Office is asking for four years in prison.
The accused had to answer in the oral hearing for the events that occurred on January 17, 2008, when he "lost control" of his vehicle and collided "with a car that was parked" on the Central Avenue of Tías. "He showed symptoms of having drunk. He had a strong smell of alcohol and a slurred voice," declared the officer who was on duty that night as head of service.
According to the officers' statements, he was accompanied at that time by the brother of the mayor of Tías, who "was holding him so he wouldn't fall."
The officers then proceeded to ask for documentation from both the owner of the affected vehicle and Hernández, but he fled the scene. "He went to the car and I thought he was going to get his documentation. He got in the car, started it, and quickly fled," explained the officer, who stated that he even had to "jump to avoid being run over," although he doesn't believe that was Hernández's intention.
After that, according to his testimony, a chase began through the streets of the municipality, until Hernández was finally intercepted "near the Notary's Estate." This officer assures that he approached the vehicle and that they had to take the accused out "by force" to arrest him, after "refusing to get out of it and submit to the breathalyzer test."
"I stopped his engine, took his keys, and he told me that he was not going to submit to the breathalyzer test. That he was the boss," the officer recounted before the court, stating that he tore "the lapel of his jacket" and threatened to open "a file" on him. "You've hit the jackpot, he told me."
The head of service assures that the mayor's brother followed them "in his vehicle" and once there, he passed him his phone, telling him that the mayor, José Juan Cruz Saavedra, wanted to speak with him. "He passed me the mayor, who told me that he would take responsibility, that we should take him home and make a report, and that he would call us the next day."
Thus, according to another pair of police officers who traveled to the scene, they took the accused to his house. "He was uttering insults and threats during his transfer," they assured.
Taking some "very strong" medications
The accused has not denied what happened, but has indicated that he does not remember "anything" of what happened and that he also does not know if he was told to submit to the breathalyzer test. "I was at a meal at the mayor's house and I left for my house. I started to feel bad, dizzy, and I tried to park. And I don't remember anything anymore, everything is blurry. I only know that some uniformed police officers arrived and when I woke up I was already at home, with my wife and a doctor next to me," the accused stated in the oral hearing.
However, he has acknowledged that he had had "a glass of whiskey" before getting in the car, but that he felt fine and that what happened seems "strange" to him. "I have never harmed any officer," the accused stated, who added that at that time he was under medical treatment, taking "very strong medications" and that it may be that this "influenced the driving."
In fact, the accused's defense alleges that he suffered from hypoglycemia as a result of the medication and hence "his strange behavior." The defense has presented a report that argues that the symptoms of hypoglycemia can be confused with those of alcohol intoxication. "You can lose control and that can be confused with a state of intoxication or with a transient mental derangement," said the forensic doctor Luis del Toro.
The accused added that "a boss is always in the spotlight" and his defense has pointed out that these officers have been suspended "from employment and salary on some occasion" and that, even, some of them "have had a file opened" on them.
"Under pressure from the mayor"
However, the officers of the Local Police have denied any "enmity" with the accused and have insisted on pointing out that Hernández was "under the influence of alcohol," although he was not given a breathalyzer test, because the accused "refused to submit to it."
However, this fact is not reflected either in the report on what happened that they delivered to the City Hall the next day, nor in the draft of the police report that they made and was not cleaned up or delivered to the Courts. "We didn't put it because we were under pressure from the mayor," said one of the officers.
And, according to the four officers who have appeared in the case, José Juan Cruz met with them the day after what happened. "In the meeting he told us that they had been drinking at his house all afternoon and that they had told him not to take the car and that his brother had followed him to see if he arrived," one of them recounted, who stated that the mayor told them that "they shouldn't have delivered the report," nor have "done anything."
The mayor's brother also intervened in the trial, who pointed out that he saw the accused at his brother's house, where "he was normal." "Then I found that he had suffered an accident and, excuse the expression, but he was like crazy," the witness pointed out.
The owner of the vehicle with which the accused collided also testified in the trial. "I don't know if he was under the influence of alcohol, because he was not tested, but that man was not well."
The mayor of Tías, José Juan Cruz Saavedra, was also scheduled to testify in the oral hearing, but the defense has waived his testimony. The Popular Party, in the opposition in the City Hall, was the one who took the events to the Court and appeared as a private prosecution, but later renounced to exercise that right.
The trial will continue on the morning of May 31, after a witness missed the day held this Wednesday.
