Alex Trelinski
A PALMA court has backed a lower court verdict that cleared a motorist of running over a British expat at a pedestrian crossing- despite being twice over the legal alcohol limit.
It agreed that the amount of alcohol consumed by the driver had no bearing on what happened.
Alan Taylor, 39, was struck down at the crossing on Avenida Argentina in central Palma in June 2020 and died in hospital five days later.
Palma’s Provincial Court dismissed an appeal lodged by the Public Prosecutor over last year’s verdict which acquitted the male driver.
If found guilty, he would have faced up to 30 months in prison and a 42-month driving ban.
The unnamed motorist- described as a young man- denied skipping a red light in the original hearing and said it was ‘green’.
“I suddenly heard a thud and I got out of the car and saw a person on ground,” he testified.
Witnesses in last year’s court proceedings also verified that the vehicle did not ignore a red light.
The hearing also heard that a truck may have blocked Mr. Taylor’s visibility as he stepped onto the crossing.
An autopsy suggested that his reaction time could have been impaired by alcohol and benzodiazepines found in his blood stream.
The Provincial Court appeal ruling said the original verdict to clear the driver was ‘not arbitrary, illogical, unreasonable, or absurd, given the evidence and the oral testimony in last year’s hearing’.
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