20 minutes – "The video does not change the legal assessment"

After being ejected from the edge of a car and pushed out of the way, on March 14, 2018, a tanker loaded with methanol spilled. Video equipment from traffic cameras showing the accident is now available to the public. The images are dramatic: the driver stops at high speed in the tractor of the truck. This is rejected as a billiard ball.

The video, which first circulated on Facebook, is quickly aired and raises questions. The prosecutor's office is investigating alleged breaches of duty after the Basel police brought the case to the police, as reported by the "Basler Zeitung".

The procedure of penal order does not generate advertising

The leak of information will be hard to find: it is extremely rare in such cases, investigators know it. The circle of people who can access it is vast. Besides the police and the people involved in the proceedings, it is not excluded that other institutions, such as the national highways of northwestern Switzerland or the Viasuisse traffic information service, also benefit.

Most likely, a reason for publication might have procedural people. The criminal case against the person responsible for the accident is the subject of a penalty order. There is a risk that the legal treatment of the accident will never reach the public.

Is someone unsatisfied with the sentence?

For the accused of blatant violation of traffic rules and gross negligence, serious bodily injury threaten the driver of the accident, with a maximum fine or a fine of 180 days. The imprisonment would almost certainly be conditional. It is quite possible that this sentence does not satisfy all the participants.

"The publication of the video does not change the criminal judgment of the case," said Michael Lutz, spokesman for the prosecutor of Baselbiet. Although the result can not be changed, it may well be that the video triggers a debate.

Increased abstract endangerment

The cause of the accident triggered a huge traffic chaos in the Basel region. Traffic stagnated strongly until the evening hours. The truck's highly flammable cargo – 24,000 liters of methanol – was an increased abstract risk. The driver could be recovered at the last second before the fire spreads in the driver's cabin. He survived the accident with injuries to the head, burns and broken ribs.

The cause of the accident seems to have escaped unscathed.

(LHA)