Woman films dying accident victim – but she doesn’t have to go to prison

First she is said to have provoked a fatal accident and then photographed the dying man. Nevertheless, the woman does not have to go to prison.

A 41-year-old woman from Cologne was sentenced to a ten-month suspended prison sentence by the Düsseldorf District Court. On July 14, 2022, the woman caused an accident during a prohibited turning maneuver in which a motorcyclist was fatally injured. Then the woman took photos of the dying man. For this she was found guilty of negligent homicide and violating the most personal sphere of life at the scene of the accident.

On the day of the accident, the woman is said to have made an illegal U-turn, whereupon the motorcyclist had to brake sharply. The man skidded his machine and ended up crashing into a post. The biker was so seriously injured that he died at the scene of the accident.

According to prosecutors, the woman stopped her car to take photos of the lifeless man with her cell phone. She is said to have told witnesses at the scene of the accident that she had no time and had to go to work. Since the woman is said to have then left the scene of the accident, the public prosecutor also accused her of fleeing the scene.

However, the court saw it differently. This was of the opinion that it was not certain that it was obvious to the woman that she had provoked the man’s death. Ultimately, there was no collision and the accident occurred behind the woman’s car.

The court also did not consider it to be proven that the woman acted in a grossly reckless manner. The defendant’s defense had insisted on an acquittal, while the public prosecutor’s office had demanded a prison sentence of two years and four months.