Car crashes into 17-month-old baby's house: Motorcyclist summoned, lawyer clarifies

The incident of a car crashing into a house, losing control while avoiding a motorbike, killing a 17-month-old baby, has left people across the country heartbroken. A lawyer has now spoken out about whether the motorcyclist should be held accountable.

Commenting on the responsibility of the motorcyclist, lawyer Tran Minh Hung said that the authorities will summon this person to work to clarify how this person crossed the street, whether he violated traffic regulations such as not reducing speed, changing direction without signaling or going in the wrong direction. In case there are signs of a violation, this person may be administratively sanctioned for the corresponding behavior.

In addition, another issue that needs special attention and careful verification is the causal relationship between the motorcyclist's act of crossing the road and the girl's death. If the verification results show signs of a violation and this is part of the cause of the fatal consequence, joint liability for the violation of road traffic regulations (if any) can be considered in the case of initiating a criminal case.

Lawyer Tran Minh Hung (Head of Family Law Office, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) acknowledged that this was an extremely regrettable incident, causing serious human damage as well as affecting the psychology and spirit of the child's family. With the consequence of the 17-month-old girl passing away, the incident needs to be urgently verified and clarified to ensure fairness, the strictness of the law as well as determine the legal responsibility of individuals involved with the girl's family.

From a legal perspective, Mr. Hung acknowledged that with the current information, it is not possible to conclude the legal responsibility of the individuals involved. However, from the data recorded by the camera, there are a number of issues that need to be clarified as follows:

Firstly, it is necessary to determine the speed of the car at the time before detecting the motorbike, steering, and the time from detecting the motorbike going in the opposite direction until having to steer. This will be the basis for determining whether the situation of the motorbike appearing was an unexpected, force majeure event or not and whether the car driver complied with the regulations on speed, observation when driving and handling when encountering obstacles on the road or not.

Second, it is necessary to clarify how the car driver handled the vehicle when discovering a motorbike, whether it was the optimal way to avoid damage or not.

At the same time, it is necessary to determine after handling to avoid the vehicle, why the car could have sped further to crash into the house even though the distance from the road to the door of the house was still enough to stop the car. From there, it is necessary to clarify whether there was an element of error in the driver's handling leading to fatal consequences or not.

Based on the above two bases, combined with the collected data, the authorities will accurately and carefully assess the responsibility of the car driver in this case. If it is found that there are factors of fault such as not ensuring speed, subjective observation or handling, or incorrect handling leading to the collision, it is possible to consider initiating a criminal case of Violation of regulations on road traffic participation under Article 260 of the 2015 Penal Code for investigation according to regulations.

In addition, according to lawyer Hung, although the area where the child died was not identified as a road, because the cause of the incident stemmed from participation in road traffic, responsibility can still be considered under Article 260 of the 2015 Penal Code in cases where there are signs of criminality.

Regarding the suspicions about the driver having an alcohol concentration, this is only information that stops at suspicion, has not been verified, so it is not possible to conclude on responsibility if it is in this situation. However, whether the driver has an alcohol concentration or not is not the basis for considering whether or not there is criminal responsibility when detecting the fault factor, but this is only a circumstance that frames and increases criminal responsibility according to Article 260 of the 2015 Penal Code.

Sharing the same opinion, lawyer Truong Van Tuan (Head of Trang Sai Gon Law Office, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) also identified this as a case that needs to be examined for signs of violations of regulations on road traffic participation. In particular, it is necessary to focus on clarifying whether the driver complied with regulations on speed, observation and handling of situations when encountering obstacles.

Ho Chi Minh City: Car rushes like an arrow, "splitting" a coffee shop in half, customers panic at the beginning of the year? Đông Nguyễn08:58:07 29/01/2025On the morning of January 28, 2025, an unfortunate incident occurred in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City when a car suddenly drove onto the sidewalk and crashed straight into a coffee shop. The incident left a man seriously injured and some property in the shop damaged.