The wife of the internist who died in the fatal 'drag race' on the M-30 in July 2021 has explained before the court how her husband died in her arms at Hospital 12 de Octubre, where he arrived several hours after the accident without yet knowing what had happened in the tunnels of the road, emphasizing that from that moment her world "shattered".
Juan Alfredo López, 38 years old and originally from Lugo, was returning that morning from the Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz. That day he was not on his shift, but they asked him to come as a volunteer to assess patients infected with Covid.
Alongside the witness were the two accused for the death of the doctor, who listened to her statement attentively. They face sentences of up to fifteen years in prison for crimes of reckless driving with disregard for life, homicide, and injuries.
Visibly affected but maintaining calm, Laura Pineda has described before the jury how Juan's last day unfolded and the devastating effect that his loss has caused in the entire family.
"I am Juan's wife and the mother of his two children," she began her testimony, recalling that that morning her husband was not scheduled to go to the hospital, but decided to show up voluntarily to attend to patients with the virus.
According to what has been pointed out, the doctor, internist and specialized in emergencies, had worked on the front line throughout the pandemic, chaining "infinite shifts". That day he left the health center at eleven in the morning and, at 11:08, he called her to notify that he would arrive shortly.
A second child on the way and a broken family
The widow recalled that a few days earlier, on July 8, they had been informed that they were expecting their second child. During her statement, she said that her eldest son lost his joy on the very day of the accident and sometimes asks her why his "daddy isn't here." "They know their father adored them," she added. Both minors have required psychological support and therapy to be able to cope with the loss.
The woman has also recounted the hours of anguish after the accident, with no news of her husband's whereabouts. "I couldn't find him. I kept calling hospitals until I called 12 de Octubre. I thought he was alive. "At four they told me he had suffered a high-impact accident. I didn't understand anything. I was able to enter the box and he died in my arms".
In his intervention, he has also wanted to highlight Juan's human quality. "He was a wonderful, noble and kind person. Every morning we had breakfast together. That day, I fell asleep, I heard a door slam and I never saw him again. Now I feel I have to honor who he was," he concluded.
The victim's parents have also testified, explaining what it has meant for them to lose "the most important person in their lives." "There is no money that can pay for this death," Juan's father has stated.
Account of the pursuit on the M-30
At the oral hearing, the ex-girlfriend of one of the accused also appeared, who assured the jury that the other defendant pursued them and that at that moment she thought he wanted to kill them. In the middle of her statement, the witness lost her nerve and addressed the jury shouting, insisting that the defendant "wanted to kill them".
According to their version, the morning had passed normally after returning home after spending the night in a hotel. Everything changed upon entering one of the M-30 tunnels, where they came across a car that was driving slower.
"Paco flashed his high beams for him to move over, we overtook him, but he started coming behind us. He was following us, and I was shouting at Paco to speed up. He would get next to us and turned the steering wheel so we would crash," he narrated, adding that the other driver looked at them with a "crazy face" and even threw an object at them through the window.
"He wanted to kill us, and I was shouting at Paco: accelerate. And in the end he crashed. I thought he was going to kill me, I was in shock. Everything happened very fast," she added, very agitated and raising her voice. After the impact, they immediately called the Police.
Witnesses, extreme speed and drug consumption
During the session, several eyewitnesses to the events intervened. One of them, who helped the doctor, has told that upon arriving at the scene the crashed driver "had no pulse." "I called emergencies. He was babbling, saying nothing," he explained.
Another witness has assured that the vehicles "were racing and dodging cars". "It was not a pursuit, it gave me the impression that it was a race. They were going at 180 kilometers per hour," he/she has indicated before the jury.
Along the same lines, a third witness described the roar prior to the crash. "I started to hear a sound like Formula 1, like racing. After the impact, the car deformed, it crumpled. I have it etched in my mind," he stated. According to his account, the victim managed to get out of the vehicle after the hit, although he had injuries: "I told him to sit down, his leg hurt, and I called emergencies."
The agents have confirmed that the test performed on one of the drivers tested positive for cocaine, cannabis, MDMA, and other narcotic substances. This data strengthens the position of the Prosecutor's Office, which maintains that it was not a casual accident, but the result of deliberate and extremely dangerous conduct.
The accusations maintain that the defendants participated in an illegal race, being fully aware of the risk of causing a death. The defenses, on the contrary, ask that the facts be considered reckless homicide and question both the speed calculations of the Madrid Municipal Police and the incidence of drug consumption on criminal liability.
The trial will continue in the coming days with new expert evidence and witness statements, while the jury must decide if the sequence captured by the cameras corresponds to gross negligence or to behavior with eventual intent.