Wacky things happen from time to time in Switzerland, but this one is a rather nasty one,a s it involves a police officer and quite a bizarre story.
The 40-y.o. officer crashed into a jaywalking pedestrian back in December 2009... while he was wheeling his police motorcycle in the city of Geneva, Switzerland.
If you know what wheelies are and how they look, then you can figure out for yourselves that the visibility in front of the bike is anything but good, so it was only natural the cop didn't see the pedestrian ignoring the red light.
Despite a witness seeing him wheeling for 10 meters or more (33 ft), the officer first denied accusations, but then claimed the front wheel accidentally came up due to throttling a bit too hard. Less than a month after this incident, he was caught doing 105 km/h (65 mph) in a 50 k m/h (31 mph) urban area.
Again claiming he was not aboard the bike as he could not ride at the time because of injuries sustained in the earlier crash, he failed to indicate who was the bike lent to.
Now, the final part of this crazy story: this week he had his day in court, but did not care to show up, and was not reachable, either. So the judge gave him a 90 day-fine of 9,900 CHF ($10,380 or €7,560) with suspension and a 2,400 CHF ($2,515 or €1,930) fine to be paid immediately.
Even though we believe this is way too kind a punishment, we remind you that should this crazy police officer have done all this road regulation-breaking after January 1st 2013, he'd have most likely been in jail, as Switzerland has a draconic law on speed.
Source Tribune de Geneve via MotorBiker.
If you know what wheelies are and how they look, then you can figure out for yourselves that the visibility in front of the bike is anything but good, so it was only natural the cop didn't see the pedestrian ignoring the red light.
Despite a witness seeing him wheeling for 10 meters or more (33 ft), the officer first denied accusations, but then claimed the front wheel accidentally came up due to throttling a bit too hard. Less than a month after this incident, he was caught doing 105 km/h (65 mph) in a 50 k m/h (31 mph) urban area.
Again claiming he was not aboard the bike as he could not ride at the time because of injuries sustained in the earlier crash, he failed to indicate who was the bike lent to.
Now, the final part of this crazy story: this week he had his day in court, but did not care to show up, and was not reachable, either. So the judge gave him a 90 day-fine of 9,900 CHF ($10,380 or €7,560) with suspension and a 2,400 CHF ($2,515 or €1,930) fine to be paid immediately.
Even though we believe this is way too kind a punishment, we remind you that should this crazy police officer have done all this road regulation-breaking after January 1st 2013, he'd have most likely been in jail, as Switzerland has a draconic law on speed.
Source Tribune de Geneve via MotorBiker.
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