"I drank two small bottles of beer, nothing more." This is how the Civil Guard officer, who tested positive in the breathalyzer test after having a traffic accident in El Cable, in Arrecife, in which a 29-year-old colleague of hers died, has defended herself. Two of the occupants of the vehicle have also testified in the trial and have defended that they did not see this officer consume alcohol. However, a third Civil Guard officer has indicated that she did see her drinking and even asked her not to drive in that state.
This Monday this trial was held in the Criminal Court Number 3 of Arrecife. The officer is accused of reckless homicide, another against road safety and two more of injuries. The Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution, which represents the parents of the deceased, have requested four years in prison for the driver.
As soon as the oral hearing began, the defendant's defense requested the nullity of the breathalyzer test, which showed a rate of 0.80, triple the permitted amount. Both the Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution opposed this fact, considering that the defendant drove under the influence of alcohol, at a speed that may have been excessive, crossed a double continuous line to enter the detour of El Cable, and ended up colliding against a palm tree. The private prosecution believes that she may have also consumed cannabis.
On the contrary, the defense considers that these facts are a minor infraction that unfortunately "caused the death of a person." In addition, the defendant's lawyer has recalled that the deceased was not wearing a seat belt. "This party does not want to blame anyone, but the deceased was not wearing a seat belt," he said. Faced with these statements, the victim's mother had to leave the room visibly affected and the judge reproached the lawyer for his attitude.
The events that have been judged this Monday date back to April 9, 2011. That day, the driver and the occupants of the vehicle had gone to a barbecue to celebrate the farewell of several colleagues from the Civil Guard, including the deceased, who were going to be transferred from the island. The vehicle had an accident near El Cable, when the occupants were heading towards the deceased's house.
The driver has assured during the trial that she had her last beer at about 2:15 p.m. and cannot explain how she tested positive in a breathalyzer test, which was performed hours later at the Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital, after being assisted in the accident, which occurred at about 9:30 p.m. In addition, she has denied that she consumed cannabis, since a report indicates that she also tested positive for this substance. "I never use drugs. I didn't consume that day. Maybe 20 days before the accident we tried it with some friends," she declared.
"I got scared and turned"
The driver, who according to her was "perfectly" able to drive the vehicle, has also assured that she did not know the entrance to the El Cable urbanization, despite having worked in Lanzarote for five years. "My colleagues saw that I was passing the exit and shouted 'to the right'. I got scared and turned. I was going to enter, I caught gravel and in tenths of a second I went against the palm tree," she testified.
Already in the hospital, the driver underwent several tests, including a blood test, which was the one that tested positive for alcohol (1.65 milligrams of alcohol in blood, which corresponds to just over 0.80 milligrams in air). In the investigation phase, the officer assured that if she had known that she was going to undergo this test, "she would not have consented to it." Asked during the trial about why she would not submit to this control, the defendant simply stated that it is "her right."
An emergency doctor has also testified in this regard and has assured that it was not the police who asked her to perform a breathalyzer test, but that she did so for "therapeutic and diagnostic" purposes.
The two injured support the driver
After her, one of the civil guards who were traveling in the crashed vehicle testified. "We were having a barbecue. I drank quite a bit of alcohol, but I didn't see her drinking," this officer testified. Thus, he considers that his colleague "was fine" to drive the vehicle. "When we were going towards El Cable, she was passing the detour and we told her to turn. She turned and that's it. I don't know where it was because I don't remember more," said this young man, who was injured in the accident.
The other occupant who was traveling in the passenger seat has also denied that the driver drank alcohol. "We didn't consume alcohol. I wasn't with her all the time, but I didn't see her drink," she defended in the trial. She doesn't remember the moment of the accident "very well" either. "We were going normal in the car. The boys said 'to the right!'. She got scared and we crashed. I suppose she tried to get to the detour from the track. I know the car caught gravel and left. I lost consciousness," she said.
Another colleague relates that the driver drank rum
However, another colleague from the Civil Guard who was also at the barbecue has told a very different version of the driver's behavior during this party. "She showed signs of having drunk quite a bit," she declared before the court. She even pointed out that they asked her not to go to the airport to pick up a friend, with whom she later had the accident.
"I arrived at the barbecue at approximately 2:00 p.m. Alcohol was consumed at that barbecue. I saw the driver consuming alcohol. I remember that she was serving herself a glass of rum. The symptoms she presented were those of a person who had drunk. Therefore, we advised her not to go to the airport. I left and didn't see her anymore," she told the court.
A national police officer, who witnessed the accident although he was off duty, explained in the trial that the car in which these civil guards were traveling "overtook him" in that area. "He overtook me when I was going at 60-70 kilometers per hour. It caught my attention because a brake light came on and then the light disappeared. I approached and saw the car against the palm tree," he said. He asked a neighbor for a cell phone and called 112 when he saw the serious accident that had just occurred.
Such was the situation of the injured inside the car, that this national police officer thought there were three occupants, instead of four. "When they started to extricate them, I realized that there were four. The co-pilot was in the part of the feet and a body on top of her. I heard her breathing heavily and suddenly stopped doing so," declared the officer, who spoke with the driver but did not appreciate "anything" remarkable regarding her alleged state of intoxication.
A local police officer has also testified as a witness, explaining how the accident that caused the death of one person could have occurred. The officer believes that the car was traveling on the right lane of the highway, of the LZ-2, "crossed the double continuous line and without going through the deceleration lane ended up breaking the wall and colliding against a palm tree."
"The driver remained without reaction"
The police officer calculates that the minimum speed that the vehicle was carrying was 62 kilometers per hour, when that detour must be entered at a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour. Therefore, he considers that the speed "was inadequate for that maneuver, for that turn." The police officer also believes that there could have been "the influence of alcohol", since it caught his "powerfully" attention that the driver "remained without reaction in the direction of impact against the palm tree."
After all the statements and final conclusions, the defendant has preferred not to make use of her right to the last word and the trial has been seen for sentencing.
