A Mayor of Rio Negro spent the night detained and was charged with minor injuries for assaulting a bus driver following a road accident. The communal chief of General Enrique Godoy, Louis Ivancichwas released this morning, but the National Road Safety Agency and its provincial counterpart requested the suspension of the driver’s license.
Ivancich starred in the crash while driving a truck on Route 22 –which crosses the Río Negro Valley–. After the collision, the communal chief he got off with an iron barinsulted the bus driver of the Flecha Bus company and broke the glass, causing an eye injury. After the attack -according to the investigation carried out by prosecutor Anabela Camporesi-, the mayor continued on his way.
The bus driver was referred to a private eye center, where a serious injury was ruled out, but the community chief continued on his way with his truck. Finally, the Police arrested him on the same route in the town of Fernández Oro, 75 kilometers from the accident site. From there, Ivancich was transferred to the Fourth Police Station in Cipolletti, where he was detained overnight.
This morning, following giving a statement, prosecutor Camporesi asked that the imputation for minor injuries without detention, considering that there are no procedural risks. In case of being convicted, the communal chief would have a sentence of less than three years, which is releaseable. The judge who intervened in the process Laura González Vitale, according to the newspaper Río Negro, ordered a prohibition of contact between those involved and gave a period of four months to conclude the investigation.
“Those who cause road violence will have to assume responsibility”
Upon learning of the arrest for aggression of the mayor of the Frente de Todos, the National Road Safety Agency (ANSV) and the Provincial Road Safety Agency of Río Negro they asked the municipality that the mayor be suspended so that he can be re-evaluated with a psychophysical exam.
“We want to make it clear that those who cause road violence and are irresponsible behind the wheel on public roads will have to assume the subsequent consequences. The rules must be followed equally by everyone,” said Pablo Martínez Carignano, executive director of the ANSV.
“Someone who insults, hits and hurts another person due to a traffic incident cannot continue to circulate with a vehicle freely. For this reason, from the ANSV we sanction all drivers who disrupt coexistence on the streets and unnecessarily put lives at risk” , Carignano completed.
