BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/06/2008

Belarus traffic cops audition for "Police Academy"

It sounds like a scene from a Hollywood movie, but for Tinseltown - think Minsk. Two Belarusian policemen have received suspended sentences for endangering the lives of several people, including a child, following an action in which they used human shields to stop a drunk driver.

A court in the capital city of Minsk found the two policemen guilty of abuse of rank.

Moreover, the convicted officers are to pay compensation of some $US 10,000 in total to the passengers and drivers of three damaged cars.

The incident took place in March, when a drunk driver was belting along the road at a speed of about 160 km/h.

The policemen received an order to stop the roadhog by any means necessary. They had the bright idea of stopping four random cars and using them as an improvised roadblock.

The drunk driver clearly had other ideas though and, instead of coming to a halt, he crashed through the hastily constructed barrier.

Luckily, nobody was killed, but five people including a three-year-old child were injured.

The driver escaped and is currently on the police's wanted list.

Obviously, the officers in question are in need of some retraining - as long as it's not a crash-course.

Source:

http://www.russiatoday.ru/features/news/26690

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