Athens: Video evidence from the fatal traffic accident involving a police officer

Video evidence of the shocking traffic accident that occurred in the early hours of Thursday (12/03) in central Athens, involving a police officer and resulting in the death of a 63-year-old man, was made public on Sunday (15/3).

Both men were injured in the collision and were transported to hospitals in Attica, where the 63-year-old died around midday on Friday (13/3).

For the incident, a police officer serving in the Attica Immediate Action Directorate was arrested on Friday (13/3) at noon on charges of dangerous driving and negligent homicide. He is expected to testify before judicial authorities on Tuesday.

The video evidence of the moment of the collision

In the video obtained by the MEGA programme “Exelixeis Tora” (“Developments Now”), the moment is captured when the police officer on his service motorcycle runs a red traffic light.

As can also be seen in the footage, the officer is travelling along Vasilissis Sofias Avenue in the downhill direction and not the uphill direction, as required under the Road Traffic Code. Just a few metres later, the officer collides almost head-on with the only vehicle on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, which is travelling in the middle lane fully legally.

After the violent collision, the two motorcycles are thrown apart. The two drivers are dragged across the two directions of Vasilissis Sofias Avenue. The police officer, together with the service motorcycle, ends up in the uphill lane.

The preliminary investigation into the circumstances of the traffic accident is being carried out by the Athens Traffic Police Sub-directorate, while a Sworn Administrative Inquiry has also been ordered against the officer.

“The only demand is that justice be served. We will exhaust every legal means to uncover the full truth and to bring anyone responsible to justice. Our primary concern is the criminal prosecution and exemplary punishment of the responsible driver, whose actions took the life of a young man. We will closely monitor the judicial course of the case so that the justice owed to the memory of our relative is delivered,” the family said in a statement.

Lawyer of the 63-year-old’s family: “The family will seek justice”

Charalambos Kaloudis, the lawyer representing the family of the 63-year-old victim, spoke on the programme Exelixeis Tora.

“The family itself is coming into contact with audiovisual material for the first time right now. We watched, frozen, the moment of the criminal driving of the responsible police officer that resulted in the unjust loss of the 63-year-old. The family is deeply shaken, but determined to seek justice — and it will pursue it where it must be pursued: in the courts.

At this point I would like to sincerely thank you for your interest and for the effort you are making as a programme. However, the family wishes to fight its battle for justice within the competent courts. Any actions and responses from us will be made institutionally through the competent police and judicial authorities only. In any case, the full statement I have sent refers to the specific issues you also identified regarding when the eyewitness testimony was taken, how it was taken, and how this person approached the family, which is truly moving,” he said.

“We are still very early in the process for the case file to be closed and for us to reach the stage of a court hearing. We estimate that this may take around the next year and a half. With more testimonies, the case file also becomes more complete. However, since the case file is still active, I would not like to expand further at this point so as not to affect the work of the investigation,” he added regarding the estimated timeline for the trial.