A week after a car accident that killed an elderly woman on a sidewalk in Kyiv, a court detained 22-years-old Stanislav Tolstosheyev, the driver and son of a wealthy businessman. The suspect can be released for $5,666 bail.
After driving his Mercedes SUV onto a sidewalk on Jan.9, Tolstosheyev was hospitalized. A 70-year-old woman died instantly, and a man, 62, was injured.
Tolstosheyev told the journalists that he fainted before the car crash and did not remember anything.
“I did it unintentionally! I regret it a lot, if only I could go back in time, I’d like to avoid it,” he said at the court hearing in Kyiv on Jan.15, Alyona Lunkova, a journalist with the STB channel reported on her Facebook page. Tolstosheyev also was quoted as saying he didn’t drink alcohol neither did he took drugs on the day of the accident.
A video, recorded from one of the cameras at videoprobki.ua, shows the moment of the collision
Tolstosheyev was supposed to appear in court on Jan.14, however, police reported that doctors didn’t let him out of the hospital because of his heart disease that made him “non-transportable.”
The excuse was treated with skepticism by journalists and social media users.
“I am not a monk, I am a young man. I was living normal life. And despite the congenital heart disorder I could let myself have a drink or something else,” he said to the reporters on Jan.15.
Tolstosheyev’s lifestyle made waves in social media, as it was hardly compatible with the heart disease his family claimed he had.
He bragged about his hard-partying lifestyle on Instagram and Vkontakte, a popular Russian version social network. Most photos show him holding alcoholic drinks, smoking or driving a car.
In a short Instagram video that became especially popular after the car accident, Stanislav Tolstosheyev, wearing aviator sunglasses, takes a puff on his cigarette and then starts flipping Hr 50 bills into the air, grinning.
A video that Stanislav Tolstosheyev posted on Instagram shows him flipping Hr 50 bills into the air.
Journalists identified Tolstosheyev as the son of businessman Andriy Tolstosheyev from Donetsk Oblast. He owns a construction business and was reportedly close with the local members of Party of Regions, the former ruling political party of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, also from Donetsk Oblast. Andriy Tolstosheyev’s firm won state construction tenders during Yanukovych’s rule.
Considering this, journalists believe the bail amount would not be a problem for the family.
Moreover, this wasn’t Stanislav Tolstosheyev’s first car crash. In 2013, he hit another vehicle and injured the driver. Nearly three years later, the case is still being investigated, according to the Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office.
In its report, released after the court hearing on Jan.15, police said the doctors made all the tests necessary to define Tolstosheyev’s health condition.
Anatoliy Andorsovych, head of the Kyiv police investigation department, said earlier that Stanislav Tolstosheyev’s parents told investigators that their son has a chronic heart disease.
“If his health condition meant he wasn’t eligible for a driver’s license – and therefore for driving a car – the people who gave him the medical certificate necessary to get the license will be brought to justice,” Andorsovych said.
