Container driver and friend drank 1.5 liters of alcohol before hitting and killing 4 people
Pham Thanh Hieu, 32 years old, was proposed to be prosecuted after more than 7 months of driving a container truck that hit 21 motorbikes, killing 4 people at an intersection while waiting for a red light.
Hieu was proposed by Ben Luc District Police (Long An) to be prosecuted for the crime.Violation of regulations on road traffic participation,According to Clause 3, Article 260 of the 2015 Penal Code. The investigation file was transferred to the People's Procuracy of the same level on August 14.
According to the investigation, Hieu drove a tractor trailer for hire for a company in Thanh Duc commune, Ben Luc district. At noon on January 2, while having lunch, he and 5 friends drank 1.5 liters of alcohol.
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Pham Thanh Hieu at the police station. Photo:Thuy Phuong. |
About 3 hours later, this driver drove a tractor trailer carrying a container of rice from Tan An City along National Highway 1A to Cat Lai Port, Ho Chi Minh City. When the car had traveled 15 km, 40 m from Binh Nhut (Ben Luc) intersection, Hieu discovered that many cars ahead were slowing down to wait for the red light.
Because he was driving at a high speed of 50 km/h, and was close behind the cars, Hieu drove into the middle lane to avoid a collision. Seeing many motorbikes waiting at the red light in the right lane, 20 meters in front of the container, because he was drunk, he panicked and could not handle it.
The container truck hit a series of motorbikes and continued to drag them for about 100 meters before stopping. The tragic accident killed 4 people, injured 25, damaged 21 motorbikes, and caused total property damage of over 200 million VND.
After causing the accident, the driver left the car and ran to his aunt's house, about 300 meters from the scene, to hide. Seven hours later, Hieu was taken to the police station by his father to confess. The test result of Hieu's blood alcohol concentration was 59 mg/100 ml of blood. In addition, his blood also contained Morphine and Codeine (drug precursors).
| 10 fateful seconds in the accident. |
To date, the car owner has compensated the dead and injured victims more than 1.8 billion VND.
Decree 46/2016 strictly prohibits drinking alcohol while driving. If there is alcohol in the blood or breath and the driver drives, he or she will be fined 2-18 million VND.
Research shows that alcohol slows down the brain's response to situations that require immediate decisions and reactions. Slow reflexes make drunk drivers more likely to cause accidents.
With an alcohol concentration of 0.94 mg/l of breath, the driver suffered from severe sensory impairment; including reduced awareness of external stimuli, impaired movement...
Clause 3, Article 260 of the 2015 Penal Code stipulates: committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punished with imprisonment from 7 to 15 years:
a) Causing the death of 3 or more people.
b) Causing injury or damage to the health of 3 people with a bodily injury rate of 61% or more for each person.
c) Causing injury or damage to the health of 3 or more people, with the total body injury rate of these people being 201% or more.
d) Causing property damage of VND 1.5 billion or more.
