Driver in fatal crash has detention suspended

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JAKARTA: City police have said that they have freed a suspect detained after a fatal car crash at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle three weeks ago, as the suspect was suffering from an infectious disease.

“The suspect was transferred to the National Police’s Dr. Sukanto hospital a week ago for further treatment. We’ll suspend his detention for the time being,” the police’s traffic directorate chief Sr. Comr. Dwi Sigit Nurmantyas told reporters on Saturday.

He also revealed that the police had submitted the case dossier on the suspect, identified as Dharshan Sutrisna, to the city prosecutor’s office.

“We are still waiting for a response from the prosecutor’s office regarding the state of the case dossier,” he said.

Dharshan has been charged with fatal reckless driving under Articles 310 and 311 of the 2009 Traffic Law and faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment.

Dharshan was reportedly driving his Mercedes Benz sedan at high speed at around 3 a.m. on July 23 when he “lost control of the vehicle” and crashed into the traffic circle, striking two street musicians who were drinking coffee and killing another man.

Police said that Dharshan told investigators that he had consumed wine and vodka before the incident, but a lab test found traces of MDMA and methamphetamine, which are found in ecstasy pills and crystal methamphetamine, respectively, in his blood.

Police have confirmed that Dharshan had been released from the drug dependency hospital four months prior to the crash.