Suspended sentence for firefighter who caused an accident with two deaths in Leiria

According to the sentence of the Judicial Court of Leiria, this Thursday consulted by the Lusa agency, the defendant was convicted of two crimes of homicide due to gross negligence with a single sentence of two years in prison, suspended during execution for the same period, and in the additional penalty of prohibition from driving motor vehicles of any category for 18 months.

As for the compensation part, the parties reached an agreement at trial.

According to the document, on the morning of August 29, 2021, a forest fire alert was given, for which the intervention of the corporation to which the volunteer firefighter was assigned was requested.

Faced with the possibility of sending another vehicle to the fire, the firefighter was contacted “to move as quickly as possible” to the fire station, which, accompanied by his partner, also a volunteer firefighter, was already doing.

After the phone call, when the vehicle was traveling on Estrada Nacional 109, towards Monte Redondo – Leiria, the defendant “started to use, alternately, the high beams and the dipped beams, with the four hazard lights activated (aka four blinkers), and repeatedly using the horn, thus signaling an urgent march”.

On the same occasion, towards Leiria – Monte Redondo, a heavy quad bike was traveling with a couple.

The single court explained that, at a given moment, the defendant, “at a speed of around 76 kilometers/hour”, overtook four vehicles, “crossing the continuous longitudinal line”, and invaded “the traffic lane in the opposite direction”.

After resuming his lane before an intersection, the driver “noticed the heavy quadricycle at a distance of approximately 27 meters from the point of impact”, which coincided with the intersection, the sentence reads.

“About a second after perceiving such danger, the defendant applied the brake and moved his vehicle to the shoulder on the right side of the road, aiming to avoid the collision”, but was unable to do so.

At the time of the collision, the defendant’s vehicle was traveling at around 72 km/h and the quadricycle was “performing a change of direction maneuver”.

After the accident, the defendant and his companion extricated the victims and began resuscitation maneuvers for the occupant of the quadricycle, who ended up dying at the scene. Her husband died a day later in a hospital unit.

The sentence, dated the 7th, described that, at the time of the accident, “it was daylight, there were no restrictions on traffic visibility and the weather was dry”, and on that date the 29th Fair was taking place in Monte Redondo, “there were several vehicles moving, which did so slowly, and several pedestrians crossing the road”.

For the court, the defendant, when driving “within a locality, at a speed of 76 km/h, overtaking four times in a place close to an intersection and on a day when the traffic of vehicles and people was high, did not take precautions, as He could and was required to carry out steering maneuvers at that intersection by vehicles traveling in the opposite direction to his own”.

“In fact, if it were not for the speed above the permitted legal limit and inappropriate for the road and circumstances in question and the overtaking carried out, the defendant would have avoided the collision” with the other vehicle”, added the court, in the proven matter.