Last week, German court started an investigation at Daimler AG on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, with Dr. Dieter Zetsche, President of the Board of Management of the company, being the prime suspect. The accusation against him was formulated following a fatal accident that occured back in July, when a 27-year old Mercedes-Benz engineer was killed while travelling in a car driven at high speed, on a test track, by an intern. The prosecutors procedeed with the trial and, in the end, came to the fair conclusion that Zetsche and the company could not, in any way, be held responsible for the tragic death of the engineer. As a consequence, the Osnabrück court decided Daimler AG together with its leader are to be alleviated of any guiltiness in this case.
Follow after the jump to read the official statement of Daimler AG upon the court's decision!
Preliminary Investigations against Board of Management of Daimler AG discontinued
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
Osnabrück, Germany, Sep 19, 2011 - The District Attorney’s Office in Osnabrück has issued the following notice: “On Monday, September 19, 2011, the Office of the District Attorney of Osnabrück discontinued the preliminary investigations concerning alleged gross negligence resulting in death against Dr. Dieter Zetsche as representative of the Daimler Board of Management.“
“The investigation was initiated on the basis of allegations by the parents of a test driver who suffered a deadly accident on the test course in Papenburg on September 21,09.2010. On that day, an intern who was driving a test vehicle on the course at a high speed collided with a slow-driving passenger car, killing a 27-year old test engineer.
The district court of Papenburg sentenced the man who caused the accident to a monetary fine on probation for negligent manslaughter on July 12, 2011.
The parents of the deceased supposed that the accident was a violation of the supervisory duties of managing staff of Daimler AG.
The District Attorney’s Office of Osnabrück discontinued the proceedings because a breach of supervisory duty can not be found. Against the parents’ claim, the driver who caused the accident was extensively instructed and trained prior to the start of the test drive. In the opinion of the test supervisor, the driver had good command of the local conditions and was well able to cope with the test drive. The accident was attributable to a momentary failure since the driver apparently allowed his attention to be diverted by the operation of the cruise control at high speed.“
Source: Daimler AG
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