Poland: Bus driver who fatally hit woman walking on road sentenced to 16 years in prison. Meanwhile, the driver who caused the accident in which a family of 3 burned alive (!) is facing… maximum 8 years in prison. (More in comments)
by B1Rabbit
Poland: Bus driver who fatally hit woman walking on road sentenced to 16 years in prison. Meanwhile, the driver who caused the accident in which a family of 3 burned alive (!) is facing… maximum 8 years in prison. (More in comments)
by B1Rabbit
5 comments
**Context:**
**July 31, 2021**
Katowice, Poland. In the morning, there is a fight at the bus stop, some of the participants run into the street. An approaching bus, hooks one of the people on the street. Then the participants in the fight try to forcibly get into the bus – the driver (probably) panics and drives off, fatally hitting one of the women and dragging her for a few dozen meters on the ground. This week, the driver was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Source: [https://www.rp.pl/prawo-karne/art39172761-kierowca-autobusu-przejechal-19-latke-uslyszal-wyrok-za-zabojstwo](https://www.rp.pl/prawo-karne/art39172761-kierowca-autobusu-przejechal-19-latke-uslyszal-wyrok-za-zabojstwo)
**September 16, 2023**
The driver of a KIA car begins an overtaking maneuver on the A1 highway at night. Seeing a BMW approaching in his mirrors, flashing its lights, he aborts the overtake and decides to return to his lane – too late. There comes a contact between the BMW and the KIA, resulting in the KIA hitting the barriers and bursting into flames. Burned 3 people – parents and a child. According to witnesses, screams could be heard from the burning car. (Source A)
Several car cam footage is being released to the Internet . Analyzing the time taken by the BMW to pass the road posts, the speed of the car is calculated…. approximately 315 km/h. After more than a week, the prosecutor confirms that the BMW was traveling at a speed of at least 253km/h. The allowed speed on highways in poland is 140km/h. The driver of the KIA, at the time he started overtaking, saw the BMW at a very long distance, or did not see it at all. (Video 1)
I would add that in 2021, in Olsztyn, a driver traveling at 174 km/h hit a car entering into traffic, thereby killing two people. He was found guilty of causing the accident, despite the fact that he was traveling on a road with priority. The entering car just could not have guessed that the driver was exceeding the speed limit by 124 km/h in the city. (Source B)
Returning to the case, the police, in an official statement, acknowledged that only the KIA car was involved in the accident, not including the BMW car at all. This is in contrast to the fire department’s announcement, which recognized from the very beginning that two cars were involved in the accident. Probably under pressure from the community and the media, the police changed the report.
It’s not over. Police laxity led to an Internet investigation. Users of Polish portals determined that the driver of the BMW, a businessman, Sebastian M. has a high-ranking police officer in his family. Therefore, the suspicion all over the Polish Internet that the police wanted to cover up the case.
Finally, the prosecutor filed charges against the driver of the BMW under Article 177 Section 2 of the Penal Code. This charge carries a penalty of 6 months to… 8 years in prison.
Video 1: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAnJta7_kes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAnJta7_kes)
Source A: [https://www.rmf24.pl/regiony/lodz/news-nowe-fakty-ws-tragedii-na-a1-sa-zarzuty-dla-kierowcy-bmw,nId,7054889](https://www.rmf24.pl/regiony/lodz/news-nowe-fakty-ws-tragedii-na-a1-sa-zarzuty-dla-kierowcy-bmw,nId,7054889)
Source B: [https://olsztyn.tvp.pl/72561255/tragiczny-wypadek-na-ul-baltyckiej-poznalismy-wyrok-sadu](https://olsztyn.tvp.pl/72561255/tragiczny-wypadek-na-ul-baltyckiej-poznalismy-wyrok-sadu)
That is a complete travesty of Justice, someone needs to get that man from the first story out of prison.
I guess prosecution thought it would be difficult to prove that it was a murder instead of fatal accident, or the culprit has family/friends in the prosecutor office or in the court.
Polish traffic is absolutely nuts. Drivers there dont give any shits about human lives
We definitely need to introduce new crime to our criminal code, like ,,road murder”, for especially reckless driving causing death of other people.
Prosecutors already tried to charge people for murder with eventual intent, when driver exceed speed limits by far (like driving 150km/ within city boundaries) and killed someone. Unfortunately, so far courts do not agree for such interpretation of a murder.