Vladimír Weiss Jr (source: TASR)
Slovakia’s national football team player Vladimír Weiss Jr., who was charged with drunk driving, may benefit from a hole in the national legislation as it is not clear who actually was driving the car stopped by the police in Bratislava in October 2016.
On April 7, Slovak tabloid media published a police video capturing Weiss driving a car.
The football player however responded by publishing another video made inside his car, which shows that though he was behind the wheel, there was another man who sitting on his knees and driving.
The police asked Weiss to undergo a breath analyser test, but he refused to do it.
Though Slovak legislation defines what it means to drive the vehicle, it does not count on the possibility that there could be two people behind the steering wheel. Thus it is not clear who was to the undergo breath analyser test, the Plus Jeden Deň daily reported.
“A court should decide on this matter and say who was responsible for driving, for example in percentages, but only in a case the vehicle caused some damage or hurt somebody,” transport analyst Jozef Drahovský told Plus Jeden Deň.
Weiss was acquitted of the charges on April 5, with a prosecutor of the Bratislava district prosecutor’s office claiming that he was not driving in the centre of Bratislava in October 2016 under the influence of alcohol.
This decision, however, was criticised by the General Prosecutor’s Office which decided to check the case. It confirmed it has already received an investigation file.
“The prosecutors of the General Prosecutor’s Office will scrutinise the case and will decide on further steps based on the results,” its spokesperson Andrea Predajňová told the TASR newswire.
The General Prosecutor’s Office may submit a special appeal and return the case to the district prosecutor’s office in Bratislava, TASR wrote.
