The inspector stopped me and lined me up as a “human shield” along with the neighboring cars. Can I refuse?

On February 9, in Vladimir, traffic police officersblocked traffic on the M7 Volga highway to detain an alleged violator who did not stop at the request of the inspector and drove through a red traffic light. The officers stopped several cars and lined them up across the road as a “human shield” (right with the drivers), hoping that this would stop the offender. But he drove through anyway, simultaneously hitting one of the cars blocking the road. After a chase, the offender was detained.

No. Police officers have the right to block traffic to stop an alleged violator, but only “subject to ensuring the safety of other road users.” That is, the traffic police inspector who is blocking traffic must do it in such a way that nothing threatens people in stopped cars. For example, stop and ask them to leave.

This requirement explicitly appeared in the administrative regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs relatively recently - in 2012 .

The administrative regulations list five methods:

1. Use special equipment (for example, spikes);
2. Restrict or block traffic;
3. Use firearms;
4. Set up a barrier of patrol cars;
5. Set up a barrier of trucks

All these measures cannot be used against:

• Vehicles with dangerous cargo;
• Vans with people, ambulances;
• Diplomats' cars, buses;
• Motorcycles and mopeds.

These types of transport also cannot be used to create barriers.

No. As an example, we can cite two very similar cases that occurred on the Moscow Ring Road four years apart.

Early in the morning of March 5, 2010, a traffic police inspector blocked traffic to detain the car. She rammed two stopped cars and drove on; the offender was never detained. The driver of one of the damaged cars, Stanislav Sutyagin, recorded a video message. After this, the commander of the traffic police regiment was fired , and the head of the capital's State Traffic Inspectorate was reprimanded (he soon also resigned ). The court sentenced inspector Oleg Sokolov, who stopped the traffic, to a year in a penal colony for exceeding his authority . Sokolov's lawyer insisted that the inspector was only carrying out orders from his superiors.

On October 23, 2014, a similar situation occurred - the police also tried to detain a car on the Moscow Ring Road and stopped traffic for this. Eight cars were damaged at once, and the offender fled again. This time the traffic police did not talk about a “human shield” at all; the unidentified driver was found to be the culprit of the accident. “Some traffic police officers told us that we stopped ourselves, others that the lanes were allegedly blocked due to repairs to the road ahead,” the drivers described conversations with the police.

No. In 2010, the Ministry of Internal Affairs repaired both damaged cars, a Mercedes and a Volga, at its own expense within a month.

The drivers of eight cars that were wrecked in the fall of 2014 were given only certificates of participation in an accident, the culprit of which was not identified. They were unable to receive payments under compulsory motor liability insurance - even if the offender had a policy, the insurance company needs to know the name of the culprit of the accident in order to issue compensation.

Refusal to stop at the request of a police officer is a traffic violation. If you do not stop, you face a fine of 500 to 800 rubles.

In addition, traffic police inspectors can draw up a report on you for disobeying a lawful request of a police officer. This article provides for a fine of 500–1000 rubles or arrest for up to 15 days.

Mikhail Zelensky