Riigikogu protestor nudged by MP's car did sustain injury after all
An MP whose car made contact with a protestor outside the Riigikogu Monday has been found to have caused a minor injury, Baltic News Service reports.
Hannes Kullamäe, head of the Police and Board Guard Board's (PPA) road traffic control center in Tallinn said told daily Postimees that: "Today, the police received information from the hospital, where it had been determined that the pedestrian had sustained an injury after all. We have been in contact with his representative, who has now promised to submit a report to the police. We will decide on our next steps according to the content of the report we receive."
As reported on ERR News, the protester, Daniel Rüütmann, who has in the recent past been involved in anti-lockdown protests, was standing outside the Toompea Castle, seat of the parliament, when Center MP Igor Kravtšenko's Volvo approached him from behind. An area to the side of Toompea Castle is reserved for MPs' parking.
While a video of the incident shows that Kravtšenko stopped short of Rüütmann, who was facing in the other direction, remonstrating with a Police and Board Guard Board (PPA) official and wearing a hood, he then edged the vehicle forward, nudging Rüütmann in the process.
The video showed Kravtšenko had then parked his car in the nearby members' car park, then making his way on foot to the Riigikogu.
While initial reports said no injury was sustained and the incident was not a police matter, Hannes Kullamäe says it takes time to carry out procedural steps, make a decision and see it enter into force, making it more expedient for the PPA to in the first instance contact the driver immediately and explain to him that his behavior was wrong.
"In this way, we were able to react immediately to what happened and reduce the probability that the driver would repeat such behavior. The driver himself has also publicly said that his behavior was unacceptable," Kullamäe said.
Igor Kravtšenko himself has expressed regret over the incident.
"I regret what I did and I apologize to the citizen, to my parliamentary group and to all my colleagues. I also expressed my regret directly to the person today. I am glad that he, too, is prepared to leave this unfortunate event behind," he wrote on his social media account Tuesday, BNS reports.
The Center Party said it had already discussed the matter at a meeting Tuesday morning.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
