- In June 2019, a young driver with a sports car collided with a cyclist on a mountain road. He was badly injured.
- The Solothurn High Court classifies the accident as serious, negligent bodily harm. The driver received a prison sentence of 36 months, of which 12 months were mandatory.
- The first instance court had unconditionally handed down a prison sentence of 3 years and 8 months for attempted premeditated homicide.
The then 23-year-old sports car driver had overtaken several vehicles on a mountain stretch between Dornach and Gempen. The sports car, a McLaren, was loaned for a test drive, a car with 570 hp. The young driver was driving at a higher speed on Gempenstrasse and overtook several vehicles. In a curve, he then collided with the correctly driving racing cyclist.
Legend:
The accident happened on the mountain road. A cyclist was seriously injured.
zvg/Canton Police Solothurn
The cyclist was seriously injured. He suffered a serious head injury and various fractures and is still suffering from the consequences of the accident to this day.
Knowingly accepting injuries?
A speed of 80 kilometers per hour applies on the mountain road. The young driver was driving at almost 100 kilometers per hour. After a daring overtaking manoeuvre, he lost control of the sports car in a blind curve. He got into the other lane, where the cyclist was coming towards him. There was a devastating collision.
The Solothurn public prosecutor’s office was of the opinion that the frontal collision was an attempt to kill someone because the driver’s reckless driving had taken the risk of injuring or even killing others. The probability of the victim surviving was low, the public prosecutor said before the Supreme Court. A prison sentence of 5 years and 8 months for attempted murder is appropriate.
Negligent, not intentional
The driver disagreed with the first-instance verdict. Therefore, he decided to move on to the Supreme Court. His attorney asked the Supreme Court for a guilty verdict of negligent, grievous bodily harm. The accident is undisputed, but the car swerved in the curve, which led to the accident. The accident has nothing to do with the previous overtaking manoeuvres.
The Supreme Court granted the defense attorney’s motion. It judges more leniently than the district court. Instead of attempted, intentional homicide, it convicted the driver of serious, negligent bodily harm. He does not have to go to almost four years, but one year in prison, says the Supreme Court.
It has dealt intensively with federal court judgments in connection with intentional killing in the street area. The accused did not deliver a race. But the driving style was careless and dangerous, just not as dangerous as in other cases. The driver still bears a heavy debt and has to go to prison for 12 months, with a conditional probationary period during the remaining 24 months.
Driver regrets accident
The driver told the Supreme Court that he was sorry for what had happened. He was aware that he was to blame for the accident.
What I did to the victim and his family is unforgivable.
It was not the first accident at Gempen on the Solothurn-Basel-Land canton border. After the serious accident, cycling associations organized a commemorative trip there.
The verdict is not yet legally binding. The parties can still appeal to the federal court.