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A Murcian truck driver has been released on bail pending trial, even after a toxicology report revealed that he had “cocaine in his blood at the time of the crime.” The 46-year-old professional motorist, who works for Spanish company El Mosca, crashed into a group having a barbecue in Nieuw-Beijerland, a town very close to Rotterdam, on August 27.

 

Six people were killed, three from the same family and one woman who was eight months pregnant at the time.

 

Given the horrific death toll, prosecutors initially demanded that the Murcia man be remanded in custody in the Netherlands; however, the Dutch authorities have decided to free him, pending an as yet unknown court date, once he surrenders his licence and agrees not to drive in the interim.

 

According to a spokesperson for the Court of Appeal in The Hague, the information related to "the presence of cocaine in his blood is something that the Court will have to deal with later."

 

Two weeks ago, the suspect’s lawyer claimed that his client “most likely had an epileptic seizure at the time” of the tragedy. The driver does actually suffer from epilepsy, but he takes regular medication and has never experienced a seizure behind the wheel. The claim was based on the fact that he “does not remember anything about the accident, he only has memories of the moment he was in the police car.”

 

The driver was uninjured in the collision and, strangely, tested negative immediately afterwards for both drug and alcohol tests, although he was still arrested on suspicion of causing a fatal accident.

 

He is now permitted to leave the Netherlands and return to Murcia until the trial.

 

Image: El Mosca