JAKARTA, INDONESIA — A University of Indonesia (UI) student was named a suspect even as he died in a tragic accident after being knocked down by a car driven by a retired police officer.
Muhammad Hasya Atallah Saputra died from injuries after allegedly being hit by a car driven by a retired Polri officer, AKBP (Ret) Eko Setia Budi Wahono.
However, instead of being named as a victim of an accident, Hasya was classified as a suspect for an offence of negligence by the police. And since the police named him as a suspect, the accident case could not be investigated further, leaving the retired officer unable to be prosecuted.
The incident, which happened on 6 October 2022, went viral in the country as the family demanded more transparency from the police in their investigation of the case so that the family could find out what really happened when the student was hit.
The UI student accident case has recently surfaced again after becoming a topic of conversation among netizens due to the disputed facts between the family and the police’s versions of how the accident took place.
According to the family’s version, the retired police officer allegedly refused to take Hasya to the hospital for medical treatment after running him over with his car.
Hasya’s father, Adi Syahputra, claimed that based on witness testimony, the accident occurred when the student of the Faculty of Social Sciences was about to return to the boarding house.
It was said that Hasya was riding his bike under drizzling rain.
Upon arriving at Jalan Srengseng Sawah, Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, Hasya fell after trying to avoid a collision by swerving to the right from a vehicle in front of him that suddenly stopped.
At the same time, a Mitsubishi Pajero car which was driven by the retired police officer, came from the opposite direction and ran over Hasya.
Adi said that the driver of the car refused to take responsibility and Hasya was only driven to the hospital by an ambulance after his friend sought help.
As Hasya had been left lying on the side of the road for quite some time, he was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.
According to the police, Hasya died due to his own negligence. This was said by Dirlantas Polda Metro Jaya, Commissioner Latif Usman, as reported by Wartakota.
Latif had said that the retired police officer who hit Hasya had the right of the road.
He added that Hasya was not careful enough to ride the motorbike when the road was slippery due to rain, adding that he was travelling at 60 km/h at the time of the incident, which caused him to be unable to stop in time when the vehicle in front of him braked suddenly.
The victim’s family immediately reported this case to the police on 7 October 2022, but the case was said to have gone nowhere until Hasya was finally named as a suspect.
An outcry from the community emerged as the public perceived bias in how the case was handled by the police.
Transportation observer Budiyanto commented that people involved in an accident but deliberately do not help the victim should be classified as committing a crime. This is regulated in the Road Traffic & Transportation Law No. 22 of 2009 concerning LLAJ. Article 231, which obliges drivers involved in accidents to provide assistance to victims.
“(In) article 312 (mentioned) if the victim is injured or dies, multiple articles can be charged,” Budiyanto said.
The victim’s family advocacy team, Gita Paulina, also emphasized that the police decision was legally flawed. Gita asked the police to be fair and look at the whole incident, not only at the point where Hasya fell while riding his motorcycle, but also the fact that the car driver did not take any action while Hasya was on the floor, dying.
“The police should know better which is a criminal offence, falling while riding a motorcycle or leaving someone when he was dying,” she added.
