Ex-racer claimed his skills justified a 140 km/h police chase — the court disagreed

The Constitutional Court of Czechia has rejected a complaint filed by a Brno resident named Opatržil, who a year earlier led police on a dangerous car chase through the city streets in an Audi A6, reaching speeds of up to 140 km/h, running red lights and driving into oncoming traffic. The chase ended when the car smashed through a hedge and slammed into a tree.

This was already the second high-profile incident in the man's record: six years earlier he had served time for fleeing from police and ultimately driving through a children's playground. He was released early back then, having served only part of his sentence, but as later events showed, he learned nothing from the experience.

The former racer's arguments

The man shouldn't have been behind the wheel of the sporty Audi A6 at the time of his arrest at all. Instead of stopping when ordered to by a police patrol, he floored the accelerator and led officers on a chase through the streets of Brno. In his complaint to the Constitutional Court, he insisted he posed no danger to other road users.

"The claimant crossed the double solid line in order to have more room to overtake other vehicles. Exceeding the speed limit by more than double does not in itself create an immediate risk to other road users. As a former racer, he handles a car better at high speed and has faster reflexes than an average driver," the complaint stated.

The man also claimed that the collision with the tree was not the result of reckless driving but of a punctured tire, which he said had occurred shortly before after hitting a traffic island. According to him, the courts had violated his right to a fair trial and to predictable application of criminal law.

The Constitutional Court's position

The panel of judges, led by reporting judge Tomáš Langášek, found nothing convincing in the driver's arguments and dismissed the complaint as manifestly unfounded.

"The claimant's argument that, as a former racing driver, he was in control of the situation at all times does not hold up. This claim is contradicted by the very fact that he lost control of the vehicle and crashed. His objection that the cause was a punctured tire rather than his own error is beside the point: the puncture itself occurred because the car hit a traffic island — and it ended up there solely due to the driver's own fault," the court's ruling states.

The Constitutional Court also found no violations in the man being held liable for creating a general public danger.

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Source: novinky.cz