The driver of a truck transporting a dangerous load in the Gran Canaria municipality of Santa María de Guía was arrested after trying to carry a large tube that protruded several meters behind his vehicle.  Reports of his having tested positive for alcohol, however, appear to have been mistaken.

 


A witness to the events, working at a nearby supermarket told a local radio station “We heard a noise like stones falling,”

“Thank God, no one was around,” she said. “I wanted to give him 25-kilo sacks of corn to stabilise the truck, but he told me no, thank you very much. Five minutes later he asked a neighbour in the area to help him and to climb up on the cab with him to counterweight” .

“When the man managed to stabilise the truck, he backed up behind the supermarket where our cars were. He was able to reverse on this back street because the hill was less steep. He crashed into a police car and grazed the company car,” she concluded.

Investigating Court No. 1 in Santa María de Guía this Thursday, June 9, ordered the release of the truck driver, according to the regional High Court, known as the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC).  Judge María Rodríguez took a statement from the driver, who had tested negative for both alcohol and drugs and was not drunk, as was erroneously reported.

The truck driver is however charged with the alleged crimes of attack, damage and injury. In addition, the judge has imposed an obligation for him to appear at court every first of the month until the proceedings are complete.  The man was carrying a large tube twice as long as the vehicle itself and was arrested shortly after the incident.