The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia has carried out an investigation to clarify a road accident that caused an extremely serious injury to a victim in the Cartagena district of Pozo Estrecho, which has culminated in the identification, location and arrest of two people as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of leaving the scene of the accident and serious injuries.
The events took place in the early hours of the morning of 16 October last, at kilometre 7.500 of the RM-311 road, which links El Albujón with El Algar, in the municipality of Cartagena. At that point, the badly injured body of a person was found with apparent signs of having been run over while wandering along the road.
The injured man was treated by the medical services on the scene, who stabilised him and evacuated him to the Ciudad Sanitaria Virgen de la Arrixaca in Murcia, where he underwent surgery for the serious injuries he had sustained and was admitted to the ICU.
The Emergency Service ‘112’ alerted the Central Operations Centre (COTA) of the Traffic Sector of the Guardia Civil of Murcia, which moved to the scene a patrol with the Attestations Team of the Traffic Detachment of Cartagena, a patrol of the Local Police of Cartagena and the Group of Investigation and Analysis of Traffic (GIAT) of the Benemérita, who carried out the first actions, such as gathering all the initial information possible, carrying out the technical-ocular inspection at the scene of the incident and collecting testimonies, evidence, vestiges and indications aimed at clarifying the events that occurred and discovering the person responsible for the hit-and-run.
Given that the moments following the occurrence of a crime are very important for its clarification, the Guardia Civil deployed an extensive and complex investigation at the scene of the accident and its surroundings, which, at first, provided evidence of the model of the type of vehicle causing the accident, an Audi A3, continuing from then on with the investigation to try to locate the vehicle and its driver.
THE VEHICLE WAS HIDDEN INSIDE AN INDUSTRIAL WAREHOUSE
A few days later, the Civil Guards of the Murcia Traffic Sector located, hidden behind some portable toilets inside an industrial building in the Cartagena district of La Palma, a vehicle that had some damage that corresponded to the pattern of the type of incident under investigation. A fog lamp and front spoiler of the vehicle were found at the scene of the accident.
Once the involvement of the vehicle was determined, the Guardia Civil located the driver and passenger who were allegedly involved in the accident – Spanish and Moroccan males, aged 24 and 22 and residents of Cartagena – who, in view of the evidence provided, acknowledged that they were responsible for the hit-and-run on 16 October which caused very serious injuries to a pedestrian.
The vehicle was thoroughly examined by civil guards from the Criminalistics Laboratory of the Judicial Police Organic Unit and the GIAT of the Traffic Sector, who obtained evidence to establish the link between the inspected vehicle, the remains of the vehicle found at the scene of the accident and the seriously injured person.
Having determined, therefore, the involvement of the vehicle and its driver and passenger, the latter have been arrested as alleged perpetrators of the offences of abandoning the scene of the accident and causing serious injury to a person, who, after being run over, was left to his fate without providing personal assistance or requesting the necessary help.
The investigation is still open as there are suspicions of the involvement of other people in the events, and further actions and arrests are not ruled out.
The offence of leaving the scene of an accident, punishable under art. 382 bis of the Penal Code, is punishable by a prison sentence of six months to four years and deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds for one to four years, for any driver who, voluntarily and without risk to himself or others, leaves the scene of an accident in which one or more persons were killed or seriously injured.
For its part, the crime of injury is punishable in art. 147 of the Penal Code with a prison sentence of three months to three years or a fine of six to twelve months.
The Guardia Civil appeals to the public, when they witness or have knowledge of a traffic accident, to take note of as many details as possible, especially the type and characteristics of the vehicle, in particular its number plate, and to report it to the security forces, in order to facilitate the police investigation and prevent such unfortunate events from going unpunished.
The detainees, the vehicle seized and the proceedings have been placed at the disposal of the 3rd Magistrate’s Court in Cartagena (Murcia).
