Not guilty verdict for Sejm deputy who refused breath test after accident

A minor offenses court in Warsaw has found a Sejm deputy who refused to take a breath test not guilty of causing a road accident. Alfred Owoc, a Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) deputy appearing on the electoral list to the Sejm in Lubuskie voivodship, was accused of causing a road accident in Warsaw on January 21, 2000, when a hired luxury Volvo he was driving veered across the road and hit a Seat. When the police arrived at the scene, Owoc refused to show any documentation or to blow into the breath-test apparatus, claiming immunity as a Sejm deputy. "I saw immediately he was drunk and I smelled alcohol on him," the policeman on the scene told Gazeta Wyborcza. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 8) M.T.