A court in the northern city of Thessaloniki on Wednesday convicted a local man of causing a traffic accident while drunk, hitting a car with a mother and a toddler in it and running away from the scene to avoid arrest.
The 57-year-old man was given a prison sentence of two years and ten months, with the proviso that he would serve at least four months and buy off the rest. Nevertheless, the defendant walked free pending the hearing of his appeal.
The court heard that the man cut across incoming traffic on a Thessaloniki double carriageway on Monday to enter a petrol station, colliding with the car the woman was driving. He then exited his vehicle and dashed off into a nearby streambed where traffic police summoned to the scene eventually found him.
The defendant told the court he had gone out to find his dog that had jumped out of the car and had intended to return to the crash scene.
Police administered a breathalyser test and found him to be well over the legal blood alcohol limit. The defendant told the court he had had a single glass of wine to drink.
