The police in Zagreb have filed criminal charges against the 51-year-old HDZ official Ivica Modrić, suspected of severely injuring a 32-year-old pedestrian about ten days ago in the Vrbik district in Zagreb. He has been arrested and detained, reports Index.hr on April 6, 2019.
The investigation found that the 51-year-old suspect, while driving a car on March 28, entered into a verbal argument with a 32-year-old pedestrian, the Zagreb Police Administration said on Saturday.
The verbal argument turned into a physical, and the 51-year-old driver seriously hurt the 32-year-old pedestrian.
The suspected 51-year-old has been handed over to the detention supervisor, while criminal charges were filed with the relevant County State Attorney’s Office, announced the Zagreb Police Administration.
The 51-year-old Ivica Modrić is a member of the HDZ branch in Osijek. Due to the incident, HDZ announced on Thursday that they had suspended him from all party duties until further notice. “HDZ regrets the incident. The party has zero tolerance for violence, which has been the position of Andrej Plenković’s government from the very start,” HDZ announced.
The Croatian Transmission System Operator (HOPS), where Modrić was a member of the board of directors, announced two days ago that he had been dismissed.
The attacked passer-by explained what happened in a statement given to Index.hr. “It happened around 4.30 pm on Thursday. I went to kindergarten in Vrbik to pick up my child. I started walking across the pedestrian crossing and made two steps. The car was ten metres away. I slowed down because I was crossing the pedestrian crossing, but he accelerated. I was already on the crossing, and he saw me. I stopped, and he passed 30 cm in front of me. It was so close that I had instinctively raised my arms. When he passed, I slapped my fingers on the trunk. There was no damage. I walked across the crossing, and he stopped the car and got out.
How dare you touch the car, he asked me. I told him he could have run me over and asked him what was wrong with him. I have had enough of you young people, he replied. I asked him what was going on. He answered me that I did not know what I had gotten myself into. He started towards me. I tried to catch his fist but was not able to. He hit me in my face. I fell to my back. Fortunately, I had a backpack, so I did not hit my head. When I got up, he turned and walked toward the car. I shouted, asking him whether he knew what he was doing. I got my cell phone out and told him I would call the police. You will call the cops on me, he replied. I will call a SWAT team on you. You do not know what you have gotten yourself into.
I photographed him and his car. He left, I called 112, and the police came in. Blood was bleeding from my nose. A man from the cafe gave me a tissue. The police questioned the worker at the parking lot. He saw everything. The waiter and a guest from the bar also saw when he hit me. The ambulance came. At the hospital, they determined I had four bone fractures. My eye was moved in its socket, and I needed surgery.
My wife went to the kindergarten to pick up our child. My two-year-old daughter saw me all bloody. In the evening, she saw her daddy crying. They moved me to the Dubrava hospital. A few days ago, I had surgery, and they inserted a titanium plate in the cheekbone. I still cannot open my eyes. I also do not feel anything from the eye to the middle of my face. It should get better in a couple of weeks or a few months. Doctors hope I will get out of the hospital soon.”
Translated from Index.hr.
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