After delays, trial on fatal crash involving MP’s escort vehicle begins

The trial of a police officer involved in a road accident that killed a 23-year-old motorcyclist outside the Greek Parliament started on Thursday, after three postponements. The officer is accused of negligent manslaughter.

Iasonas Lalaounis was killed when he was hit by a vehicle belonging to the police escort of New Democracy lawmaker Dora Bakoyannis on March 14, 2021. The unnamed police officer pulled into Parliament’s Vassilissis Sofias Avenue side entrance, across the flow of northbound traffic from Syntagma Square. The 23-year-old motorcyclist was driving up Vassilissis Sofias, with a green light, at that moment, slamming into the car’s rear.

The impact threw the motorcyclist onto the asphalt, causing deadly injuries to his brain, even though he was wearing a helmet. He died shortly after in hospital.

According to the findings of the investigation, the police officer should not have been using that particular entrance at the time as he was not driving the MP – Bakoyannis, a former New Democracy minster and also Prime Minister Kyriakos Mittsotakis’ sister – to Parliament and should also have waited for a signal from the police officer assigned to regulate the flow of traffic at that spot.

The victim’s father, Pantelis Lalaounis, said the accused exhibited “provocatively criminal driving behavior which led to the death of my son.” He also said that his son had been riding a motorcycle for three years and was very careful, always wearing a helmet. 

The victim’s sister, Katerina-Sofia Lalaouni, testified that the defendant falsely stated that he provided first aid to the victim when instead “he left him on the asphalt.”

The co-driver of the vehicle, police officer Nikitas Mavroyiannis, testified that on the day in question they tried to enter Parliament “like every other time,” by turning left. He claimed that they did not see the approaching motorcyclist who made an illegal right-hand pass on a taxi that had stopped to allow their vehicle to turn.

Asked by the court’s presiding judge why the driver had disregarded the arrows on the road indicating a mandatory course straight ahead, Mavroyiannis said that “this is what has always been done.”