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José Antonio Reyes: the car accident report details

The prosecutor has acknowledged that crimes were committed including homicide due to reckless driving, but has asked for the case to be closed.

Estado del vehículo en el que viajaba Juan Antonio Reyes.
Estado del vehículo en el que viajaba Juan Antonio Reyes.TONI RODRIGUEZ

The Road Safety Prosecutor's Office has asked the court in Seville to mark the case closed regarding the traffic accident in which José Antonio Reyes died, although it is acknowledged that the footballer committed two crimes.

Reyes case to be closed

The incident occurred almost a year ago to the day, on 1 June 2019. The file stating the cause for this incident, in which the player’s cousin, Jonathan Reyes, also died, and Juan Manuel Calderón was seriously injured, has been requested to be closed due to the impossibility of continuing with the prosecution due to the person responsible for the crime having passed away.

After the investigative steps taken to clarify the details of the accident, which occurred on the A-376 highway between Seville and Utrera as Reyes returned from Almendralejo (Badajoz) after training with Extremadura, the authorities see signs that a crime of homicide with serious recklessness as per article 142.1 of the penal code as well as a crime of causing injury through serious recklessness as per article 152.1.

In this sense, the Prosecutor states that Reyes violated "the minimum and elemental precautions" required and committed a "serious infraction of the traffic regulations and the regulatory duties of care as per the Traffic Law that affects the essential conditions of road safety."

UEFA Europa League Final 2015 - Sevilla's Jose Antonio Reyes in action with Dnipro's Jaba Kankava.
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UEFA Europa League Final 2015 - Sevilla's Jose Antonio Reyes in action with Dnipro's Jaba Kankava.Eddie KeoghREUTERS

According to reports, the accident was due to a combination of two things: the rear tire blowout, which caused the driver to lose control of the car, and the excessive speed of the car, which was going more than 187 kilometres per hour, at least 67 km/h above the limit allowed on that section of road.

The accident, the speed

The car, a Mercedes Benz S 550, departed from the road on the left bank and hit a metal protective barrier, forcing the driver to perform an evasive manoeuvre after which he again left the road on the right bank. After colliding with a rain gutter, a metal highway protection fence, and an enclosure fence for a private farm, the vehicle overturned several times until its final position, where the car caught fire. .

The expert report also indicates that "at the time of hitting the roadway fence, it did so at a speed of 187 kilometres per hour,” although, "at the precise moment of bursting the tire it must have been travelling at a speed higher than that calculated."

The reports also states that the highway was in good condition and that there was clear signalling of a speed limit of 120 km/h.