The Head Office of the Investigative Committee is investigating a case over a LiAZ bus running over pedestrians at an underpass near Slavyansky Boulevard metro station.
Investigators continue working to gather technical documents at the Odintsovo branch of MOSTRANSAVTO, to check the bus, documents regarding drivers’ schedule, their training and briefings. They are also questioning eye-witnesses of the accident, and looking at CCTV footage. A forensic technical examination has been ordered to check the condition of the bus and reasons for the driver’s actions. Experts of the Federal Forensic Center under the RF Ministry of Justice, representatives of plants where the bus was made and MOSTRANSAVTO are involved in examining the bus. The bus’s dashboard camera is also being checked.
The investigators have enough data to conclude that the bus was in good order, thereby driver Viktor Tikhonov was detained. He has been charged with violation of the road code entailing death of two or more people under part 5 of Article 264 of the RF Criminal Code. According to investigators, on 25 December 2017, Tikhonov violated the road code in Kutuzovsky Avenue when the bus swerved onto the pavement and did nothing to stop it. The bus then went down the stairs of the underpass and ran over some pedestrians, four of whom died and 10 more were injured.
The investigators have asked courts today to place Tikhonov in custody pending trial.
To give impartial assessment to the circumstances surrounding the incident, they are also going to investigate necessary documents to find out driver’s schedule, his professional level, possible complaints on him, his general health both at the moment of the crash and before it.
Definitive conclusions on the reasons of the accident and contributing factors can be made only after all the investigative operations and all the examinations have been conducted.
Spokesperson for the Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko
PDF version 
DOC version
