A popular jury has found two officials of the Castelldefels Local Police guilty for falsifying a police report so that the sister-in-law of one of them could collect insurance after suffering a traffic accident. After two days of deliberation and by a majority of seven votes to two, the people’s court opted for the guilt of the two defendants. Now it will be the president of the room who must impose the sentence for each of them. The Prosecutor’s Office requested 4 years and 11 months in prison for Roldán P. for the crimes of coercion and document falsification, while for Eva P. she claims 1 year and two months in prison. The Public Ministry reduced the sentences by applying the mitigation of undue delays due to the time that has elapsed since the events occurred.
In November 2016, there was an accident on a street in Castelldefels. A woman, who happened to be the sister-in-law of a local police assistant, opened the door of her vehicle without realizing that a vehicle was passing by at that moment and took the door in front of her. The driver was a 17-year-old boy who was driving a quadricycle. The woman filled out the friendly report and stated in the comments that the young man “did not see the door open.” However, two local police officers who went to the scene blamed the woman for having opened the door without making sure that that no one came. With that police report, the insurance company informed the woman that it could not cover the cost of the repair and that she would have to cover it on her own. The cost of the breakdown amounted to 1,300 euros.
It was at that moment, when the woman contacted her sister-in-law who worked in the police and they arranged a meeting attended by another friend from the local police. There, according to the accusation, they launched the plan with the aim of modifying that police report and being able to collect the insurance. The Local Police called the young man at midnight to summon him to testify at the police station. After a first refusal, they made an appointment for the next day. According to what the young man recounted during the trial, the policeman pressured him, accusing him of lying. He even warned him that nothing would happen if he admitted guilt because it would be the insurance that he would end up paying for. Faced with such pressure, the young man ended up signing what the policeman had told him and assumed sole responsibility for the accident.
The agent also looked for another witness and made her testify along with the sister-in-law. All those statements were compiled and sent to the insurance that ended up paying for the repair. It was the head of the Castelldefels Local Police who, after detecting that two reports had been prepared on the same events, brought the case to the attention of the Prosecutor’s Office, who ended up charging the two agents. The woman who arranged the meeting and the man who forged the document and coerced the young man. During the trial, the insurance expert specified that if they had not sent the second falsified report, the insurance would not have paid the repair. The local police officer has been suspended from duty for four years.
