Police in Lithuania’s second-largest city Kaunas have launched a pre-trial probe after Mayor Visvaldas Matijosaitis hit a man at a pedestrian crossing while driving his car on June 30.
The person sustained minor injuries, according to the police.
Matijošaitis hit the man at a pedestrian crossing around noon as he was driving his Rolls-Royce. The mayor sincerely apologised to the pedestrian after the incident and claimed that the incident was caused by a lack of attention and a lack of horizontal markings on the newly laid asphalt. The mayor said that he was driving slowly enough but did not see the pedestrian when changing lanes.
This was not the first traffic incident for the Kaunas mayor – in the winter of 2018, Matijošaitis hit and injured a pedestrian while driving his car.
The mayor’s car then knocked down an 80-year-old man near the crosswalk in downtown Kaunas. The man sustained minor injuries.
Matijošaitis promised at the time that he would no longer drive during working hours.
Moreover, in the autumn of 2016, the mayor was involved in an incident when he allegedly failed to give way to a pedestrian crossing the street. A witness then said he saw a man standing on the crossing, leaning against a black car and banging on the bonnet, angry at the driver.
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