Police officers from the Tatra region have charged a bus driver who was carrying passengers on the roof of a vehicle in Zakopane on Friday evening with ‘putting them at risk”. The man may face a custodial sentence of up to three years. Evidence is being collected against the other identified men, who will answer for the offences committed.
On Friday evening on Nowotarska Street in Zakopane, traffic participants observed very dangerous and irresponsible behaviour by young men who were leaning dangerously out of a moving bus, with several of them climbing out onto the roof while driving. Unfortunately, despite such dangerous behaviour, no one informed law enforcement. One of the accidental drivers recorded these “stunts” with a car dashcam and the video made its way to the Internet and then to the police officers, who began searching for the irresponsible driver and his passengers.
Already on 17 July this year, on Sunday morning, the police officers questioned and then charged the bus driver. The 24-year-old from the Świętokrzyskie voivodship heard the charge under Article, 160 of the Criminal Code, i.e., ‘exposing a person to direct danger of loss of life or grievous bodily harm.’ The driver may face a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment for this act. The 24-year-old admitted to the charges against him.
Police officers have also identified all the passengers on the bus, against whom further action will be taken in the coming days after the necessary evidence has been collected regarding the offences they committed. They are 20-year-olds from the Świętokrzyskie, Podkarpackie and Małopolskie voivodeships. They were “partying” in the manner described at a stag party.
They are charged with, among other things, indecent acts, and creating a threat to traffic safety. The case is developing, as, after the publication of the video in the media, more units in the country are recognising the vehicle and the persons travelling in it as potential offenders. Information about such behaviour came, among others, from Wieliczka county, where the driver of the bus in question stopped vehicle traffic at the exit from the A4 motorway, while half-naked men walked around the roundabout blocking traffic.