The drunken thief, who was going to kill a policeman whom he hit with his car on the belt in Oradea, escaped punishment

When the judgment was given, on April 30, 2024, the court determined that all the facts of which Augustin David Rostaș was accused had expired, so the criminal trial was stopped.

However, the Court decided that the defendant and the RCA insurer of the car he was driving should pay part of the hospitalization expenses of the hit policeman and pay him moral damages of 80,000 euros. The young man was investigated and tried because in 2019, when he was only 15 years old, he stole a car, drove it drunk, with the police on his trail, and rammed into a police officer. Rostaş was initially accused of attempted murder, but the court decided to change the legal classification of the act and to try him for culpable bodily harm. The sentence of the Bihor Court is not final and can be appealed within 10 days at the Oradea Court of Appeal.

Agent dragged under stolen car

On October 10, 2019, Augustin Rostaș took the car in front of the house of a local from Oșorhei, who had left the car unlocked and with the keys inside. When he noticed that the vehicle was missing, the owner called 112, and after a few minutes, the police noticed the car on the ring road of Oradea, in the area of ​​the Selgros store, and went in pursuit of it.

The thief accelerated up to almost 120 km/h and blocked the attempts of the Police crews to overtake several times. Meanwhile, the agents formed a roadblock near Piața 100, but Rostaş ignored their signals, forcing one policeman to jump over the parapet and a local policeman to throw himself into the roadside ditch to avoid being hit.

Instead, another Road Traffic agent, Octavian Popa, was hit and dragged under the car that had speeded over the curb between the two lanes. The car stopped at a guardrail on the side of the road, at which point the teenager behind the wheel and two passengers in the car tried to run away, but were immediately caught.

With injuries all over his body, the policeman, who was then 30 years old, arrived at the County Hospital, where he was operated on. The doctors found that Octavian Popa had a double fracture of the femur, a fracture of the tibia and fibula, torn ligaments and meniscus, torn calf muscles and a “dusty” knee. In order to heal his injuries, the agent received 120 days of medical care, but, with full recovery, he was on medical leave for 300 days.

Drunken thief with a history

The investigation that followed revealed the fact that, on the evening when he hit the policeman, Augustin Rostaș had been drinking beer and playing cards with two other minors at his home in Oșorhei. They then stole the car and decided to go to Tinca, where his girlfriend lived. When the police started chasing them, one of the companions of the occasional driver revealed that Rostaş allegedly said he would not let himself be caught by the police.

In turn, the fugitive claimed that he did not stop because he had been investigated for car thefts in the past. He thought the police would get out of his way when he went the wrong way over the curb, the boy said.

August Rostaș was arrested, and less than a month after the accident, he was sent to court under charges of insult with reference to attempted murder, theft, driving a vehicle without a driver’s license and under the influence of alcohol or other substances.

The court: it’s not attempted murder, it’s accidental injury

Eight months after the accident, the trial took an unexpected turn. On June 11, 2020, judge Crina Muntean ordered the change in the legal classification of the act that Augustin Rostaș was accused of, from attempted murder to culpable bodily harm.

“It’s not a simple accident”, explained the lawyer of the policeman who was hit, specifying that the boy did not watch the result of his act, but accepted it, an opinion shared by the prosecutor of the session. On the other hand, the defense argued that the young people took everything as a game, especially since they also drank: “They thought they were getting in the car and going about their business nicely, without foreseeing anything else.”

From the point of view of the punishments provided by the Criminal Code for the two acts, in the case of the attempted murder of a policeman on duty, a sentence of up to 12 and a half years of imprisonment can be given, while for culpable bodily harm the punishment is not may exceed 4 and a half years of imprisonment.

The defendant, obliged to pay 80% of the value of medical care

By the sentence given on the last day of April, the Court ordered the termination of the criminal trial against Augustin Rostaș for the charges of theft of utility, driving a vehicle without a driver’s license, driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other substances and culpable bodily injury .

Instead, he forced the defendant and the insurance company to pay almost 13,000 lei to the Oradea County Hospital and over 35,000 lei to the “Foișor” Orthopedic Hospital in Bucharest. The sums represent 80% of the value of the medical care provided to the injured policeman, the rest of the money “to be borne according to the health insurance of the injured person”, the Court established.

The court decided that the injured agent should receive 9,600 lei in material damages, 80,000 euros in moral damages and another 5,200 lei in legal fees.