More than two years after the accident, flowers and candles on Invalidenstrasse in Berlin remember the victims: a three-year-old child, his grandmother and two men. Foto: picture alliance/dpa/Annette Riedl
A man drove his SUV into a group of pedestrians in Berlin, four people died. After an epileptic seizure and brain surgery, the driver could and should have recognized that he was not fit to drive, the court said.
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After an accident in which four people died in downtown Berlin, the accused driver was sentenced to a suspended sentence of two years. The regional court (LG) Berlin found the SUV driver guilty of negligent homicide and negligent endangerment of road traffic (ruling of February 17, 2022, Az. 542 KLs 6/21). The court thus went beyond the request of the public prosecutor. The 45-year-old man drove a car despite suffering from epilepsy and having had a brain operation four weeks ago. The accident happened as a result of an epileptic fit while driving.
The man’s heavy car left Invalidenstraße across the oncoming lane on September 6, 2019. The SUV (sports utility vehicle) overturned, killing four people on the sidewalk – a three-year-old and his grandmother, aged 64, and two men, aged 28 and 29.
The court revoked the 45-year-old’s driver’s license and imposed a two-year driver’s license ban. He was also required to pay 15,000 euros to a non-profit association. “He could and should have realized that he was not allowed to get behind the wheel,” the court said.
Nationwide horror and discussions about SUVs
The case had caused horror nationwide – and quickly triggered a discussion about the dangers on the road. Initially, the focus was on whether SUV vehicles are particularly dangerous. In the trial, however, the question of the defendant’s fitness to drive was central and whether an epileptic seizure was foreseeable for him. A terrible accident would probably have happened even with a small car, it said in the process.
From the prosecutor’s point of view, the entrepreneur should not have been driving just a month before the accident because of structural epilepsy and brain surgery. She had applied for a suspended sentence of one year and six months. According to the lawyers, who represented the surviving dependents as joint plaintiffs, the 45-year-old deliberately violated medical requirements.
The driver should have found out more about his state of health
At the beginning of the trial at the end of October, the German defendant stated that he was deeply distressed by the suffering caused by his accident. He had an epileptic seizure for the first time in May 2019. With a tumor operation and medication, he then did everything to rule out a second attack.
The LG explained in a press release that although some doctors had informed the accused incorrectly or at least incompletely about his or her suitability to drive, the accused, like every vehicle driver, is obliged to check on his or her own responsibility before each journey whether he or she actually is can take part in road traffic without endangering yourself or others. Due to the sometimes contradictory information from the various doctors, the driver should have expressly inquired which rules apply to him, according to the presiding judge in his oral verdict.
After the conviction, the co-plaintiffs’ representatives were satisfied. The judgment was very well founded, said lawyer Christina Clemm on Thursday after the announcement. The LG Berlin made it clear that the SUV driver should have checked his fitness to drive given his epilepsy. “The court also emphasized that the doctors did not explain properly – but properly enough,” said Clemm. The co-plaintiff was pleased that the man’s driver’s license was confiscated.
After weighing up all the pros and cons of the accused, the chamber came to the conclusion that “here a suspended prison sentence of two years is just about appropriate,” according to the court’s press release. In addition to the sometimes inadequate explanations provided by some doctors, the fact that the accused made it possible for the case to be fully clarified in the first place through his own statements and the release of his doctors from their duty of confidentiality should be considered a mitigating factor. The chairman emphasized that criminal law was reaching its limits in view of the tragic death of four people. Nothing can relieve the pain of the relatives.
The verdict is not yet legally binding. It can be contested with the appeal of revision.
dpa/ast/LTO-Redaktion
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