Ski resort to be investigated after fatal crash involving police officer

A petition has appeared on Change.org demanding an investigation into the Sheregesh ski resort in the Kemerovo region, where a drunk driver hit three 23-year-olds. Two of them died, and one was seriously injured. Their relatives say the driver was a police officer. Almost a month after the tragedy, they have still not been able to obtain reliable information about the progress of the investigation.

“Feeling that he could do anything and go unpunished, the police officer got behind the wheel drunk, exceeded the speed limit and killed innocent guys,” the petition says.

At the end of April, Aleksandr Simakov, Vlad Turukhanov and Leonid Osipov came to the festival "Grelka-fest" in Sheregesh. According to relatives, early in the morning of the 21st they were walking home from the club. The guys were walking along the side of the only road where there is no pedestrian section.

At about five in the morning on April 21, Simakov, Turukhanov and Osipov were hit by a drunk driver. Vlad Turukhanov died on the spot, Aleksandr Simakov died in the Tashtagol hospital. Leonid Osipov survived, but according to his relatives, he faces a long rehabilitation.

The Investigative Committee reported to the boys' relatives that the car was driven by 39-year-old police major Aleksey Kuznetsov, who held the position of head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' rear services for the Tashtagolsky District, as reported by "Ostorozhno Novosti". However, in the Investigative Committee's reports, the suspect is simply called "a 38-year-old resident of the Tashtagolsky District". The chairman of the department, Aleksandr Bastrykin, twice demanded that this incident be reported to him.

Relatives of the victims believe that the Sheregesh ski resort does not meet safety requirements.

"There was no hospital in the place of mass gathering of people. The guys were taken more than 30 kilometers to the city of Tashtagol. An ambulance should be in such a place a priori, so that it would be possible to take people to Novokuznetsk for qualified help, since they did not build a hospital in Sheregesh, while there are more than enough helicopter pads, entertainment centers and expensive price tags for services," they note in the petition.

In addition, the relatives of the deceased and the injured demand that the Ministry of Internal Affairs be held accountable “for the actions and inactions of its employees.”

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