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A Romanian woman is now in a Bucharest hospital because the Tico she was driving got under the wheels of a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by a representative of the United States Secret Service. It happened last Monday night on Aviatorilor Avenue in central Bucharest. According to the US Embassy to Romania, the author of the car crash is a representative of the United States Secret Service for fiscal fraud and cyber criminality.

The accident took place a few minutes before 11:00 p.m., close to China's Embassy. The Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Kevin Sandlin slipped because of excessive speed and ran into a Tico driven by a woman on the other side of the road. An emergency team was needed to rescue the victim caught in her own car. The woman was injured and she was taken to the Floreasca Emergency Hospital. Her cervix fracture underwent surgery yesterday at noon. When hospitalized the victim told nothing to the press. Moreover, the injured woman and her mother demanded hospital officials to give no information on the patient's state of health. According to Antena 3 TV station, the victim's sister and husband are employed by the US Embassy in Bucharest. Right after the crash police teams and two cars belonging to the US Embassy reached the place.

Criminal immunity for the driver

According to Realitatea TV station, several US Embassy employees surrounded the car where the US employee was, trying to protect him against TV cameras. He was wearing a military uniform and he wouldn't be tested with the Etiltest (alcohol test) and he would neither cooperate to the blood testing meant to detect the amount of alcohol in his blood. Bucharest Police spokesman Cristian Ciocan commented: "Given the circumstances, there is now a criminal case against him because of wounding a person and because of his refusal to let authorities take blood samples. Since the man has got US citizenship and he is a beneficiary of diplomatic immunity, the case has reached prosecutors and investigations continue."

Prosecutors from the Courthouse in Bucharest district 1 are coordinating the inquiry and they are to decide, depending on the documents from the US Embassy, if the man is criminally responsible in Romania for his deeds. According to the Vienna Convention and the to the Treaty Romania signed with the US, US citizens enjoying diplomatic immunity may not be under criminal jurisdiction in Romania. (...)

US Embassy's press release

The US Embassy in Bucharest confirmed yesterday by press release that employee Kevin L. Sandlin, an attache working in the Embassy for an US agency dealing with the use of the law, was involved in a car crash in which a woman was hurt. According to the release, the man is cooperating with the Romanian police and the other authorities in the ongoing inquiry. The US diplomatic mission has expressed deep regrets, wishing fast recovery to the driver of the other car involved in the crash.