Two years in prison and 6 years of driver's license withdrawal. These are the penalties requested by the Prosecutor's Office for the two defendants for the video in which a motorcycle does a 'wheelie' at full speed along the Arrecife Ring Road, while a vehicle follows and records the moment. In addition, the eventual conviction would also imply that after those 6 years, their driver's license would expire and they would have to obtain a new one, as established by the Penal Code for license withdrawals for a period longer than two years.
In its qualification brief, the Public Prosecutor's Office maintains that the events recorded in those images constitute a crime against road safety of reckless driving. Despite the fact that the driver of the car, O.S.R., assured the judge that when he saw the motorcycle raised on one wheel he did not know who was driving it, the Prosecutor's Office believes that both (together with the co-pilot who recorded the images) "decided" by "mutual agreement" to record a video while performing that maneuver. The brief adds that they also agreed to "subsequently disseminate it through the Whatsapp instant messaging application". It was precisely this dissemination through Whatsapp and social networks that caused the images to fall into the hands of the Local Police and the Civil Guard, who spent more than a week conducting investigations to identify them and gather evidence.
In its accusation, the Prosecutor's Office considers that M.C.S.A. performed the 'wheelie' with "absolute disregard for the safety of road users" and being "aware of the danger" of his maneuver, both for the rest of the drivers who were driving correctly on the road and for the two occupants of the car from which the images were recorded. The investigation by the Local Police determined that the motorcycle traveled on one wheel at an average speed of 145 kilometers per hour and at one point reached 160 kilometers per hour, 60 more than the limit established on the Ring Road, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
Regarding the driver of the car, who reached 180 kilometers per hour, it highlights that despite the "danger that the maneuver and its recording entailed for the rest of the road users, he was driving focusing his attention on the motorcycle, in order to achieve a good framing for the recording of the video". In fact, as the Public Prosecutor's Office brief relates and can be clearly seen in the images, "at one point the defendant did not pay due attention to driving and came to drive between the two lanes of the road". The co-pilot of the vehicle shouted at that moment "watch out!" and the defendant had to "perform an evasive maneuver" to avoid a collision with the car in front.
In addition to the prison sentence and the deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles, the Prosecutor's Office asks that both pay the court costs. The trial will be held on November 25 in the Criminal Court Number 1 of Arrecife, since the defendants did not accept a settlement agreement this Thursday and deny the facts that are imputed to them. In fact, during his statement, M.C.S.A. defended that he was not the one driving, although he did admit that he has a motorcycle of the same brand and model. He also acknowledged having shoes and gloves identical to those of the motorcyclist in the video, but claimed that anyone could have them too. At the hearing on the 25th, a witness to the events and also agents of the Local Police will testify. In addition, the video and the frames that have been extracted in the investigation will be viewed.
