The TS endorses sanctioning two civil guards who tested positive for drugs and alcohol in an out-of-service control

Agents of the Madrid Municipal Police intercepted them at the exit of a "suspicious" shack in Cañada Real

MADRID, 26 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Supreme Court has confirmed the decision of the Ministry of Defense to suspend two civil guards who -- while off duty -- were intercepted by the Madrid Municipal Police after a visit to a "suspicious" shack in Cañada Real and tested positive on drugs and alcohol.

The magistrates have dismissed the resources of the two members of the Armed Institute considering that there has been no violation of their rights and that a "complete range of evidence, solid and accommodated" has been assessed in the constitutional canon, with "an exhaustive weighing, logical and rational.

According to a ruling from the Military Chamber to which Europa Press has had access, the events date back to January 2019, when agents of the Madrid Municipal Police - who were serving in the Cañada Real - They followed a white vehicle in which three men were traveling who approached a "suspicious" shack for "being used for drug trafficking, consumption and retail".

In 29 pages, the court has recounted how the agents intercepted the vehicle and identified the passengers: the one who was driving was a civil guard, the co-pilot was a Romanian citizen and the one in the back seat was another civil guard.

The members of the Meritorious said that "they were working." At first, the municipal police thought that it could be an investigation and let them go. Given the suspicions, however, they followed them again and checked if it was an official vehicle. Finally, they discovered that it was the private car of one of the civil guards.

Given this scenario, the municipal police stopped the vehicle again. This time they made the civil guards get out of the car. None of them were carrying the regulation weapon, but one of them had in his possession "a small bag with a substance that could be a narcotic in the form of a rock."

One of the Benemérita agents expressed "his sorrow and regret"; the other, however, spoke "in an arrogant manner" and criticized the way in which the municipal police officers acted. Both were subjected to drug and alcohol tests.

The one who tested positive for alcohol and drugs was sanctioned with a two-year job suspension and the loss of the post he held. The one who only tested positive for alcohol was suspended for a year and also lost his destiny. A file was opened on both of them as authors of the "very serious" offense of "abuse and attributions that cause serious damage to citizens or the Administration. These measures were endorsed by the Central Military Court.

The civil guards took the case to the Supreme Court, considering that their right to effective judicial protection and defenselessness had been violated, as well as a violation of a process with all guarantees and the presumption of innocence, in addition to a lack of proportionality and undue delays.

In the resolution, for which Judge José Alberto Fernández Rodera has been a rapporteur, the Supreme Court has explained that, although the terms of the procedure were affected by the pandemic, "the sanctioning resolution was issued within the legal term" and with adjustment to what the law contemplates in these cases.