RIYADH, 25 June 2007 — Riyadh police announced yesterday that a 16-year-old local teenager who stole a car and was then involved in an accident with another car had been arrested.
The accident was caused by drifting and resulted in the deaths of the two passengers in the car. “The accident caused the deaths of his two companions, aged 15 and 16,” a statement from the Riyadh police said. The police said that the man in the other car had suffered minor injuries.
Riyadh police said the investigation was still continuing.
Last May, authorities in Riyadh said they were categorizing any deaths due to car drifting as a criminally negligent offense.
“According to the directive, all fatalities reported from joyriding will be registered with police departments in the areas in which they happened,” Maj. Gen. Fahd Al-Bishr, director of the General Traffic Police, told Arab News. “They are then transferred to the General Investigation and Prosecution Authority where they are investigated and transferred to a court.”
Previously, deaths resulting from drifting were classed as accidental but now the authorities have decided to increase the severity of the crime by sending cases to the General Investigation and Prosecution Authority.
