Police officers kill two pedestrians last week
Two pedestrians - one of them a 4-year-old boy - were knocked down and killed last weekend. The shocking thing is that in both cases the drivers were police officers. What's more, the number of road accidents involving police officers is on the rise.
The most dramatic of the weekend's fatal accidents occurred on Friday night in the mountain town of Pec pod Snezkou when a policeman - later found to have been drinking - ran over a 39 year old pedestrian and fled the scene. The hit-and-run victim died on the way to hospital, and police made the case public the following day. The other accident occurred on Friday morning when a 26 year old policeman knocked down a woman and her son on a zebra crossing in the town of Havlickuv Brod. The boy, who was four, died in hospital. In this case the police were slower to inform the media, and the incident was not made public until Monday, a full four days later.
Attempting to defend the police, a spokesperson said that such incidents were exceptions which give the force a bad name. It must be said, however, that traffic accidents caused by police officers are not such a rarity. Last year alone, policemen committed 52 driving offences of all kinds, although only a few were found to have been drinking and few of the accidents resulted in the loss of life.
An anonymous police officer is quoted in Tuesday's Mlada fronta Dnes as saying that it was not so rare for police officers to drink and drive as you might imagine. Furthermore, he himself confessed to have driven under the influence many times. Usually, police are only caught drink-driving when an accident occurs. The issue is made more complicated by the fact that, according to the Interior Ministry Inspection Office, police officers are not usually stopped by their colleagues on the roads. That is especially true when there are high ranking police officers in the car.
Causing an accident does not necessarily mean the end of a police officer's career. Last year, for instance, the head of a serious crimes unit in Moravia was to blame for an accident on the Prague-Brno motorway; his only punishment - part of his salary that month was docked. In the weekend's case in Pec pod Snezkou the culprit has so far escaped with a suspension.
One of the most high profile cases involving a drunk policeman was that of Miroslav Antl, the tough-talking former deputy police president. After causing an accident in Pardubice two months ago Mr Antl resigned a few days later. He is now teaching at a police academy.
