Driver who rammed “live shield” asks to punish driving inspectors

 35-year-old Minsker Aleh Narkevich is striving to make driving inspectors pay some of the money to insurance companies for the rammed cars. Aleh was drunken driving his car on October 7, 2007 and did not stop when driving inspectors demanded it. The inspectors made “a live shield” to stop him near Lahoiski Route in Minsk ring road. As a result, Narkevich rammed 5 cars. He admitted his guilt in court. He was sentenced to three years in a labour camp and deprived of his driving license for the refusal to stop and drunken driving.

Aleh served his sentence in Minsk. He says that companions in distress and policemen treated him well and were humorous: they nicknamed him “Mentsyuk’s brother”.

Aleh Narkevіch: “I am not a criminal so policemen treated me in a friendly, normal way. Moreover, the car accident involving Mentsyuk occurred in Slutsk highway after my accident and all the employees of the labour camps I served my sentence in called me “Mentsyuk’s brother”.

Besides the imprisonment, Aleh had to pay about 50 millions as compensations and fines.
Aleh Narkevіch: “10 millions to a victim, Stas Alyakseyeu, (his “Tavria” could not be repaired after the accident - Euroradio), 3 million 600 thousand rubels – for Stas’ treatment in hospital. I paid for the treatment right away, they deduced 10 millions of my pay. The insurance company billed me for 27 million 141 thousand rubles later. I have paid part of it and, as I calculated a month ago, I have to pay about 12 million 800 thousand rubles”.

Aleh Narkevich’s fiancée left him due to the fines and payments and financial problems.

Aleh Narkevich: “I had been going to get married but the girl understood that I had big financial problems after the incident. We went to a shop after the car accident once and we had to refuse many things. “You see, we used to drop in a shop and buy everything we liked, you had the money and now you don’t!”. I was sent to a correctional institution on March 21 and she returned to her ex- husband on March 22. Her life is okay now: she has remarried her ex-husband and has given birth to a child and lives happily”.

However, Aleh cannot get back on the rails despite the fact that he was amnestied two years after the trial. The former teamster has managed to get a job only on a plant. He has to pay 500 thousands a month while his wage is 850 thousands. That why “Mentsyuk’s brother” wonders why he is the only one who has to pay and why the driving inspectors who created “the live shield” of private cars don’t.

“I cannot make the ends meet in such a situation. I work for MAZ and I have problems with my wage, - complains Aleh. – Of course, I am to blame for drunken driving. But I would like the incident not to be left unnoticed. I would like the driving inspectors to pay at least part of the fine I am paying”.

The drivers of the cars the live shield meant to stop Aleh Narkevich was made of also agree that the driving inspectorate has to pay. Stanislau Alyakseyeu, one of the victims, has told Euroradio that the drivers of the cars involved in the live shield sent complaints about it to the police and court. But it did not bring any result. According to the refusals, none of the driving inspectors made the drivers stop in the ring road.

 Stanislau Alyakseyeu: “They refused us and the case was not sent to court – it was just a refusal. I do not remember what was written in the refusal but it was presented the way that we had stopped on our own and that nobody had stopped us on purpose”.

An employee of the press service of the Republican Driving Inspectorate Hanna Banadyk notes that the bills sent to Aleh Narkevich by insurance companies have nothing to do with the driving inspectorate. If he dislikes something, he should try suing insurance companies instead of accusing policemen.

Hanna Banadyk: “We have nothing to do with it. He should sue the insurance companies and send the case to court. But we do not know their procedure”.
By the way, the driving inspectors who stopped drunk Raman Mentsyuk with “a live shield’ – Henadz Darahakupets and Ales Lihtarovich – were fired. The court fined both of them for more than 21 million rubles or for 6 thousand dollars each. “Mentsyuk’s case” was covered a lot back then. However, Aleh Narkevich’s accident was unnoticed. The employee of the press service of the driving inspectorate does not know what happened to the policemen who had stopped him.
Now Narkevich is trying to find a way to make the driving inspectors pay to insurance companies. He may write a complaint to the Supreme Court and the Regional Office of the Public Prosecutor. However, Stanislau Alyakseyeu will not complain about the actions of the driving inspectorate anymore although his leg has not healed up so far. The guy underwent one more operation on February 16. Lying on the wheel stretcher, the guy noted sadly that he “saw no sense in spending money on a lawyer to try to strive for the impossible”.

Photo by: Zmitser Lukashuk