Andrej Danko sweeps Dúbravka, to the right of him on the banner: "The future is yours" (source: Štefan Straka)
Earlier today, April 26, Deputy Speaker of Parliament and leader of the Slovak National Party (SNS) Andrej Danko spent two hours sweeping streets in the Dúbravka district of Bratislava. Sporting a basketball hoodie with an American NBA logo, and accompanied by his security guards as well as the mayor of Dúbravka, Martin Zaťovič, the photo-op was in notional atonement for a car crash that Danko was involved in more than three months ago.
Danko had promised to do community service after crashing his car into a pedestrian crossing traffic light in January. He cancelled a previous street-sweeping appointment by citing the presidential election (in which he was briefly a candidate, although he pulled out before the first-round vote).
"I asked the mayor if I could join in and clean up Dúbravka a bit, since I already live here," he stated upon his arrival this morning.
It was a token effort: Danko left to attend a parliamentary session before 11:00. Most of the two hours he spent "working" were spent having his photograph taken and cleaning around the Saratov shopping centre in Dúbravka.
The community service attracted surprised looks from passersby, as well as shouts. "He's just leaning on that broom," exclaimed one onlooker.
No driving for two years
Danko, whose car demolished a traffic light pole next to a place where pedestrians normally wait to cross a busy road, thanked God that he hadn't harmed anyone. He claimed he had already paid for the damaged traffic light, the cost of which amounted to €3,000.
"Yesterday, I also found out about the penalty; I won't be driving for two years and I'll have to pay a fine of either 1,000 or 900 euros. So, I believe I don't have to jump into the Danube, and today I came to clean voluntarily," he told journalists.
Even after the administrative procedure, he said he still doesn't know whether it was an "damage incident" or a "traffic accident". He promised that he would do everything so that in the future, citizens could distinguish between the two.
The Regional Prosecutor's Office in Bratislava informed him in March that he had not committed a criminal offence, but an act that "could be a misdemeanour."
The fact that he fled the scene, driving his damaged car home and reportedly refusing to answer the door to police officers who wanted to administer an alcohol breath test, was not addressed. He finally submitted to a breath test 15 hours later, which returned a negative result, but police did not perform a blood alcohol test, which could still have detected evidence of earlier drinking. They have not explained why.
Danko says he insisted on video footage being published
Despite promises from Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok that video of the crash would be released, it remained undisclosed until today, when grainy footage taken from a passing tram was published.
Danko stated that the Transport Inspectorate had closed the case, allowing the police to release the footage. He claimed that the Regional Directorate Police in Bratislava only published it on his urging.
It shows Danko's car entering the intersection from the right at high speed, with other vehicles apparently braking to avoid him. The point of collision with the traffic light is not clearly visible. A few seconds later, without him having got out to inspect the damage, Danko's car departs at speed back up the road from which he had entered the junction. Police traced him by following a trail of leaking engine oil that led to his house, and from a licence plate that he had left behind at the scence of the incident.
Another video of the crash that was in the possession of the public transport operator DPB was not released and has reportedly been destroyed since the incident. The Sme daily quoted a DPB spokesperson saying "its further storage was not necessary and expedient" and citing data protection legislation.
