Criminal proceeding opened as MP's blood alcohol content exceeds 1.5 permille

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A criminal procedure was opened after Dmitri Dmitrijev, the MP who crashed his car while intoxicated shortly after midnight on Thursday, was found to have a blood alcohol concentration higher than 1.5 permille.

«Where at the beginning the police opened a misdemeanor proceeding to ascertain and establish the circumstances of what happened, by now the findings of the blood alcohol test have arrived which identified a blood alcohol concentration in excess of 1.5 permille,» spokespeople for the North district prosecutor's office told BNS.

Driving a motor vehicle in a state of intoxication like this can be deemed a criminal offense. Therefore the North district prosecutor's office opened a criminal proceeding with regard to Dmitrijev based on the article of the Penal Code dealing with driving a power-driven vehicle in a state of intoxication, the spokespeople added.

The Police and Border Guard Board said that a 33-year-old driver, Dmitri, overshot a T-shaped intersection and hit tree stumps with his Subaru Legacy in Pedase village in Harju county at 1:02 a.m. on Thursday. The driver who was under the influence of alcohol was taken to the North Estonia Medical Center in Tallinn.

In remarks released via spokespeople for the opposition Center Party group, Dmitrijev said the accident happened after a seminar of the party group on Tuesday and Wednesday at which plans for the first half of 2016 were discussed.

«In the course of the meeting I had a conflict with a fellow member of the parliamentary group. I wanted to take a time-out and get away from the problem for a while. Feeling sober, I left by car. After a few minutes of driving I drove off the road and got stuck. An ambulance that I called myself later took me to the North Estonia Medical Center for examination, where to my knowledge alcohol was detected in my blood,» the MP said.

«I ask the public, my family, voters and fellow members of the parliamentary group to accept my heartfelt apologies. Since this incident will be probably followed by a police investigation, I cannot offer additional comments to the media. Of course I will collaborate fully with the possible investigation. I will decide about my continuation as MP at a later moment,» the statement by Dmitrijev reads.

The head of the Center Party group, Kadri Simson, condemned the MP for driving a car when intoxicated.

«To my mind there can be no excuse or justification to Dmitri Dmitrijev's behavior. Alcohol and driving do not go together and we have zero tolerance on this. While continuing as member of the parliament is a matter of every deputy's personal choice which they make on the basis of the wishes of their voters, we will definitely discuss this subject at the meeting of our parliamentary group Monday,» Simson was quoted as saying by spokespeople for the group.

Dmitrijev became a member of parliament as substitute for MEP Yana Toom. Previously he served as mayor of the northeastern industrial town of Kivioli from 2007–2015 and as member of the council of Kivioli from 2005–2007.

The accident happened in the territory of the Padise rural municipality some 60 kilometers to the west of Tallinn.