Police negligence outrages public

  • 2005-06-01
  • By TBT staff
On May 28, an intoxicated policeman ran over a young couple at a pedestrian crossing in Siauliai and then fled the scene, killing one and putting the other into a coma.

This incident is just one of many cases of police negligence behind the wheel. Public response to the Siauliai accident was so deafening that the head of police was forced to make a public apology.

"I personally feel terrible shame that we still have officers of this kind in our system. With just one thoughtless action, they erase all good work performed by the police, and they disseminate distrust in the whole system," said Commissar General Vytautas Grigaravicius.

Car accidents caused by reckless police officers long ago became commonplace in Lithuania. In Vilnius alone, 64 cases were registered last year in which police officers were found guilty of a driving violation. Twelve were drunk.