Fatal crash bus driver admits taking sedatives
Fatal crash bus driver admits taking sedatives
BOGOR, West Java (JP): The Kramatdjati bus driver charged with
negligence that resulted 31 people burning to death inside his
bus told the Bogor District Court yesterday that he had taken two
barbiturate pills before leaving the Kampung Rambutan terminal
for Bandung on March 23.
"I found the pills inside the match box I borrowed from an
unidentified man at the terminal at about 5 a.m.," Ag. bin Yacob
told the court.
He said he found 10 pills in the box. He stole the pills and
took two of them before taking a nap in the bus until 8.30 a.m.
According to a statement from a doctor read by judge Into. A
Tanjung, the pills, locally called Nipam, are a kind of sleeping
pill and sedative.
People who take one pill usually fall asleep minutes later,
the report said.
"But after waking up there will be a negative side effect. The
user will be weak and dazed," Into added.
Ag., however, denied this, saying that he felt fine when
driving the bus and did not feel drowsy.
After leaving Bogor at around 10 a.m., the driver said that
shortly after passing one of the Jagorawi toll road gates the
traffic became heavier.
Zigzag
He acknowledged that some passengers had warned him not to
speed up and zigzag. He therefore slowed down a little.
"My bus was in the left lane behind a tanker when all of a
sudden the driver of the tanker in front of me put on the brakes
to stop abruptly. I could have driven off to the right, but there
were many vehicles around," he said.
Ag described how the bus then crashed into the tanker which
had stopped behind three other stationary cars.
"I did not see the three cars because my view was blocked by
the tanker," the defendant said.
When asked by judge Into whether he pushed the button of the
hydraulic door shortly after the crash, which would have enabled
the passengers to get off the bus, Ag said he disembarked from
the bus to check the damage to the tanker and his bus.
"I did not see any spark of fire. I did not know how there
could have been a fire," he said, adding that he forgot to open
the bus' automatic doors.
He only noticed that there was a fire on the top of one of the
cars. This spread to the bus.
"I would have run back to the bus to rescue the passengers but
two police officers caught and handcuffed me," Ag. said
"You should have told the police officers how to open the
doors of the bus," Judge Into said. "I was nervous and panicked
upon seeing the fire," Ag. replied.
Answering a question from presiding judge Usman Wahab, he said
he was driving at 80 kilometers per hour when the accident
occurred. But the judge expressed doubts about the truth of the
defendant's explanation.
"I can hardly believe it. I think you drove the bus much
faster. If the speed was only 80 kmh it would have been okay and
I believe the accident would not have happened," Usman said.
Only about 10 people attended the trial apart from the judges,
the prosecutors and the defendant's lawyers GM. Associates Legal
Consultants.
The presiding judge adjourned the trial until July 29 when the
prosecutors are scheduled to announce their sentence demand.
(21/bas)