Drunken policeman kills three graduates in Kirovohrad region, 4 more passengers in hospital (photos)
A fatal accident involving a drunken police officer occurred in the Kirovohrad region. The man was transporting seven graduates in his car.
According to the State Bureau of Investigation, the accident killed three girls aged 17. They had just celebrated their graduation.
The accident occurred on June 25 near the village of Novhorodka, the SBI said.
"According to preliminary investigation, the car was driven by a law enforcement officer with signs of intoxication. He was driving teenagers from a graduation celebration and, in violation of safety rules, put seven graduates in the car. The police officer lost control of the car, the car slid into a ditch and overturned. As a result of the accident, three girls were killed and four other minor passengers were taken to the hospital," the agency said.
The law enforcement officer has now been detained. He has been charged under Part 4 of Article 286-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which is a violation of road safety rules by driving a vehicle being intoxicated.
The offender faces 12 years in prison.
Meanwhile, the regional prosecutor's office reported that the driver of the Mercedes-Benz exceeded the speed limit on the Kropyvnytskyi-Kryvyi Rih-Zaporizhzhia highway near the village of Novhorodka.
"There were five passengers in the car, all graduates of one of the local schools. As a result of the accident, three sixteen-year-old girls (all born in 2006) died on the spot. Two other passengers, a boy born in 2005 and a girl born in 2007, were injured," the agency said.
Investigators found that the culprit of the fatal accident was a police sergeant of the Kropyvnytskyi District Police Department in Kirovohrad region.
In April, actor Ostap Stupka drove a Range Rover into a parked Mitsubishi car with a 38-year-old man in it.
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