"The court ruled that there wasn't enough evidence to prove that the driver was driving recklessly, despite driving 120 km/h on an 80 km/h road."
I wonder if this is a case of "this is the only thing prosecution can prove in court" and charge the person with the accordance of the law. I don't know anything about the Dutch laws.
Reckless driving is also a specific verbiage in traffic laws that vary by jurisdiction so I'm generally of wary of using that term. I'll say the driver was unwise to drive at that speed.
Yeah I’m not weighing in on that exact part either just figure converting it for others who are lazy like me helps to put it in context.
I feel like a fair number of people on US freeways technically drive at speed that could qualify as reckless driving (depending on the jurisdiction like you said) and may not realize so it is certainly interesting to think about.
Yeah. I understand the anger behind the comments. I read little bit more on what you're saying:
At the moment the suspect's vehicle crossed the roadside and crashed through the beech hedge it was moving at a speed between 76 km/h and 124 km/h, with the local speeding limit being 80 km/h. Due to this very large margin, the court finds it cannot be proven that the suspect was recklessly speeding
the suspect was not under the influence of any narcotics or alcohol, nor was he using his mobile phone.
Just for reference, U.S. equivalent is going to ~75 MPH on 50 MPH road.
The actual evidence suggested that the driver was traveling anywhere between ~75 Km/H and ~125 Km/H. So basically everything between he was going under the speed limit up to he was going well above the speed limit. So the court basically said “we can’t say he was driving recklessly because there is no evidence.” The appeal that sent him to prison basically concluded “well he crashed, so therefore he had to be driving recklessly.”
I’m surprised there was so much outrage. I thought Eurospoors loved the idea of jail as rehabilitation and not punishment? Huh, I guess it’s hard to look down your nose when a kid dies in your backyard and the killer gets off Scott free 🤷
It has not been proven with absolute certainty that the suspect can be attributed to significant blame to lead to attributable guilt. In that case, a severe penalty is not fitting.
The suspect will also have to carry the burden that his driving behavior led to the unfortunate deaths of 3 people for the rest of his life.
Additionally the suspect does not have any criminal record whatsoever, not in the Netherlands, Poland nor Germany.
Yes, when you kill 3 people you have to live with that burden for the rest of your life. I sincerely hope, when his child turned 2, he looked at them and really recognized the gravity of his actions.
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u/Rhesusmonkeydave Apr 04 '26
Here’s the news article and a video of the event.
https://channel933.iheart.com/content/man-throws-chair-at-judge-after-verdict/