Monika M., driving an Opel Corsa while intoxicated (1.61‰ of alcohol in her exhaled air), failed to stop for a roadside check and then began fleeing through the city streets at an excessive speed. In doing so, she endangered pedestrians and other road users, drove onto the pavement and a cycle path, ignored “Stop” and “Give Way” signs, and disobeyed traffic lights.

She continued fleeing until, at the intersection of Bema and 1 Maja streets, she hit a vertical road sign. When a police officer approached the car, she deliberately drove off, running him over.

By doing so, she committed an active assault on a police officer. The officer suffered a sprain and partial tear of the knee, a sprain and partial tear of the ankle joint, and a contusion of the chest. These injuries impaired the functions of the body’s organs for fewer than 7 days.

Monika M. also damaged a Kia Ceed police car (the right front door), causing losses of more than PLN 6,700.

Tests showed that M. was not under the influence of drugs. The prosecutor pointed out that the aggressive manner of driving, complete lack of imagination, considerable speed, and the overall circumstances of the incident support the conclusion that, if an unexpected event had occurred on the road, the suspect would not have been able to perform any evasive maneuvers and would therefore have realistically caused a “situation which, irrespective of any further human intervention, could at any moment have turned into a road traffic disaster.”

Monika M. admitted to committing the offense of which she was accused, expressed remorse, and applied to be voluntarily subjected to punishment.

Taking into account the circumstances of the case and the woman’s lack of previous convictions, the prosecutor assessed that the aims of the punishment could also be achieved without holding a trial. In view, however, of the principle governing sentencing for juvenile offenders (an offender who was under 21 at the time of the offense and under 24 when sentenced at first instance), which requires non-custodial penalties to be imposed first and foremost with the aim of rehabilitating the offender, the following penalty was agreed with Monika M.:

one year of restriction of liberty through 30 hours per month of unpaid, supervised community service assigned by the court

  • a four-year ban on driving any motor vehicles
  • a payment of PLN 5,000 to the Fund for Assistance to Victims and Post-Penitentiary Assistance
  • an obligation to fully compensate the damage by paying PLN 6,743.71 to the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław
  • PLN 1,500 in compensation for the harm suffered, payable to the injured officer.

The case will be heard in a session by the District Court in Lubin.

Liliana Łukasiewicz, press spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Legnica/ii