Spanish court dismantles Civil Guard officer's 'I drank afterwards' drink-driving excuse
The Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura, Spain, upholds the conviction of a Civil Guard officer who claimed he drank alcohol after a crash. The timeline destroys his defence.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Drunk Civil Guard officer: court dismantles his 'I drank afterwards' alibi
The Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura has upheld the conviction of a Civil Guard officer for driving under the influence of alcohol after an accident at the entrance to a prison in Spain. The ruling firmly rejects the officer's claim that he consumed alcohol after the crash and before the local police arrived. The evidence gathered and the timeline of events were decisive in confirming the sentence. The defendant registered 0.71 and 0.73 mg/l of alcohol in exhaled air at 10:30 in the morning, after crashing at 9:25. His alibi: he downed a shot on the hard shoulder out of nerves.
The timeline that demolishes the excuse
The accident peine when the officer mistakenly put the vehicle in reverse and collided with a parked National Police vehicle. The prison's security staff testified that they did not see the officer leave the premises or enter any establishment during the 65-minute interval before the local police arrived. Where would he have gone to drink? In a place with cameras and controls, the alibi falls apart. The court deemed it physically impossible that he had consumed alcohol afterwards, and the breathalyser itself showed levels typical of a binge, not a recently taken drink.
The breathalyser is enough: no blood draw needed
Some voices in the debate argued that a blood test should have been carried out. Case law is clear: a breathalyser test, performed with all calibration guarantees and a double test, is full incriminating evidence. Ordering a blood draw is not necessary unless the defendant requests it or there are doubts about the device's reliability. In this case, the defence tried to sow doubt about the sequence, but the court held that the timing match and the physical impossibility of drinking between the accident and the test sealed the case.
The underlying issue: incentive system and institutional myopia
The debate has gone beyond the specific facts. It has been pointed out that the officer may have had vision problems for years and dodged the psychotechnical driving tests, keeping his licence thanks to the complicity of the mutual insurance bodies and a lack of oversight. The conviction is not just about alcohol, but about the mess of a system that prefers to look the other way until an accident happens with inconvenient witnesses. As has been said, the officer had been "beating the system" for years, and only when he crashed into a police vehicle did the fiction fall apart.
The officer has announced he will appeal to the Constitutional Court, which could drag the process out for years. Meanwhile, the ruling states that the alcohol consumption took place before the accident and that the "I drank afterwards" alibi is nothing more than a desperate attempt to evade responsibility. Justice, at least in this case, has not bought the story.
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The Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura has upheld the conviction of a Civil Guard officer for driving under the influence of alcohol after an accident at the entrance to a prison in Spain. The ruling firmly rejects the officer's claim that he consumed alcohol after the crash and before the local police arrived. The evidence gathered and the timeline of events were decisive in confirming the sentence. The defendant registered 0.71 and 0.73 mg/l of alcohol in exhaled air at 10:30 in the morning, after crashing at 9:25. His alibi: he downed a shot on the hard shoulder out of nerves.
The timeline that demolishes the excuse
The accident peine when the officer mistakenly put the vehicle in reverse and collided with a parked National Police vehicle. The prison's security staff testified that they did not see the officer leave the premises or enter any establishment during the 65-minute interval before the local police arrived. Where would he have gone to drink? In a place with cameras and controls, the alibi falls apart. The court deemed it physically impossible that he had consumed alcohol afterwards, and the breathalyser itself showed levels typical of a binge, not a recently taken drink.
The breathalyser is enough: no blood draw needed
Some voices in the debate argued that a blood test should have been carried out. Case law is clear: a breathalyser test, performed with all calibration guarantees and a double test, is full incriminating evidence. Ordering a blood draw is not necessary unless the defendant requests it or there are doubts about the device's reliability. In this case, the defence tried to sow doubt about the sequence, but the court held that the timing match and the physical impossibility of drinking between the accident and the test sealed the case.
The underlying issue: incentive system and institutional myopia
The debate has gone beyond the specific facts. It has been pointed out that the officer may have had vision problems for years and dodged the psychotechnical driving tests, keeping his licence thanks to the complicity of the mutual insurance bodies and a lack of oversight. The conviction is not just about alcohol, but about the mess of a system that prefers to look the other way until an accident happens with inconvenient witnesses. As has been said, the officer had been "beating the system" for years, and only when he crashed into a police vehicle did the fiction fall apart.
The officer has announced he will appeal to the Constitutional Court, which could drag the process out for years. Meanwhile, the ruling states that the alcohol consumption took place before the accident and that the "I drank afterwards" alibi is nothing more than a desperate attempt to evade responsibility. Justice, at least in this case, has not bought the story.
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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 (48 replies).
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