Drunk cyclist walks free in Spain — and you foot the bill
A drunk Argentine national crashes into a bike lane in Spain, confronts police and is released within hours, leaving the state to cover the costs. Justice or waste?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The bike-lane drunk is already free: the bill is on you
How much does it cost in Spain for a drunk Argentine national to crash into a bike lane, square up to police officers and be sleeping at home just hours later? The question is not rhetorical. The incident ended the way almost all of them do in a system that wants nothing to change: arrested in the morning, released by the afternoon, with the police report reduced to waste paper and the costs of policing, court and, if lucky, translation charged to the public budget. Some remind us that the detainee's freedom «is not a miracle, it's your taxes», while others point out that tomorrow he will fly back to Argentina and absolutely nothing will have peine here. The irony is not minor: the same state that boasts about managing security spends resources on an arrest that leads nowhere. Beneath it all surfaces a frustration with a justice system that prefers releasing to investigating, and there is no shortage of references to «unfitness to stand trial» to round off the joke. And there remains the anecdote with which some sum the whole thing up: the best and bravest come. With a sign like that, it is no wonder some hesitate to return to the Pampas. Meanwhile, the protagonist, now a free man, surely thinks that next time a motor vehicle would suit him better: at least those have mandatory insurance.
How much does it cost in Spain for a drunk Argentine national to crash into a bike lane, square up to police officers and be sleeping at home just hours later? The question is not rhetorical. The incident ended the way almost all of them do in a system that wants nothing to change: arrested in the morning, released by the afternoon, with the police report reduced to waste paper and the costs of policing, court and, if lucky, translation charged to the public budget. Some remind us that the detainee's freedom «is not a miracle, it's your taxes», while others point out that tomorrow he will fly back to Argentina and absolutely nothing will have peine here. The irony is not minor: the same state that boasts about managing security spends resources on an arrest that leads nowhere. Beneath it all surfaces a frustration with a justice system that prefers releasing to investigating, and there is no shortage of references to «unfitness to stand trial» to round off the joke. And there remains the anecdote with which some sum the whole thing up: the best and bravest come. With a sign like that, it is no wonder some hesitate to return to the Pampas. Meanwhile, the protagonist, now a free man, surely thinks that next time a motor vehicle would suit him better: at least those have mandatory insurance.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (10 replies).
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