Prosecutors seek up to four months in fatal Lækjargata crash

Prosecutors have asked for a man accused of causing a fatal crash on Lækjargata to be sentenced to three to four months in prison, mbl.is reported. They said the sentence could be suspended.

The man is accused of causing the death of a man in his thirties when he drove a telescopic handler into a van at the junction of Lækjargata and Vonarstræti in September 2023. The handler’s forks pierced the van, killing its driver.

At Reykjavík District Court, prosecutors said the forks were about 70 centimetres above the ground at the time of the crash, citing evidence from the investigation. They argued that the handler’s boom restricted the accused’s view to the right and that he could have seen the van sooner if the forks had been lower.

Prosecutors said driving the machine with the forks at that height showed gross negligence. They added that even if the van driver had contributed to the crash, that would not remove the accused’s responsibility.

In seeking a sentence, prosecutors noted that the accused had no previous convictions and that the crash had been deeply distressing for him. They nevertheless maintained that his negligence had caused another person’s death. They also asked the court to suspend his driving rights for six months and order him to pay legal costs and compensation.

Prosecutors had earlier dropped the part of the charge relating to driving under the influence of medication, following a new regulation on impairment limits for medication use that took effect the previous day.