Rafina: 29-year-old arrested, coast guard officer hurt

A 29-year-old man was arrested at midday on Monday, 17 August, at Rafina port, after an incident in which a Coast Guard officer was injured in the leg. According to an announcement from the Port Authority, as reported by TA NEA, the incident occurred during the docking of a passenger-vehicle ferry, while passengers and vehicles were being disembarked. The 29-year-old was driving a passenger car and is said to have arbitrarily blocked the flow of other vehicles, without complying with instructions from officers directing traffic at the pier. TodayGrid does not publish identifying details of the person arrested or of the injured officer.

When he was asked to show the necessary documents, again according to the official announcement, the driver refused the check and abruptly put his vehicle in motion. During the manoeuvre, the car ran over the foot of a Coast Guard officer, causing the injury. The injured man was taken immediately to Rafina Health Centre, where he received first aid. According to the same announcement, the 29-year-old is then said to have again refused to be checked by other Port Authority officers and to have physically resisted the attempt to restrain and bring him to the port authority office. No details have been made public about the severity of the injury.

A case file was opened against him for violations of the Highway Code, violence against officials, insubordination and bodily harm through negligence. These are four distinct offences, which under Greek law are judged separately: violence against officials and insubordination concern the conduct toward the officer carrying out the check, while bodily harm through negligence concerns the actual outcome of the injury. The preliminary investigation is being conducted by Rafina Central Port Authority, which also recorded the relevant traffic violations. The man arrested, like any defendant, is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the courts. The case file will be forwarded to the competent prosecutor’s office, which will decide whether to bring criminal charges and for which of the offences.

Rafina port is Attica’s second-busiest gateway to the Aegean, after Piraeus, and mainly serves routes to Evia, Andros, Tinos, Mykonos and the rest of the Cyclades. In August, and especially around the mid-August holiday, traffic peaks and vehicle boarding and disembarkation procedures take place under time pressure, since ships must keep to tight schedules. Instructions from Coast Guard officers directing traffic in the pier areas are mandatory for drivers. More reporting from the area is published on the Rafina-Pikermi page. It has not been announced whether the incident caused a delay in the disembarkation of the other vehicles or in the day’s subsequent sailings.