(Madrid, 48 years old) appeared this Monday, November 17, in the court of Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) in relation to the traffic accident in which he was involved last Sunday, November 9, at the entrance to the Sevilla Golf urbanization, near Montequinto. A road accident from which no personal injuries were reported, since the right-hander was unharmed; but there was material damage. Now the request for new proceedings has been made known, which has motivated that the prosecution of the road accident will be postponed in order to be able to provide new possible new proceedings, as reported by judicial sources to the Efe agency. “We have to investigate something more, things are not so clear,” explained his lawyer, Joaquín Moeckel, who has detailed that, among the pending procedures – which he has attributed to the Prosecutor’s Office – is calling the owner of the vehicle – which is a company –, the insurance company, conducting an expert on the damages and statements from witnesses that are missing in the police report.
In the morning, Rivera, who has been summoned along with the local police officers involved and witnesses to the events, has been received by dozens of journalists at the doors of the Court of Instance of Alcalá de Guadaíra, where he has been summoned after the accident. Before testifying before the judge, the son of Carmina Ordóñez y Paquirri told the media that “whatever he has to say,” he will tell the judge and that he will make “the decision he has to make” and “it’s over.” The bullfighter, visibly “uncomfortable” with the media attention, has lamented the “parallel trial” that he has been suffering since the incident: “A roundabout, no car involved, no person involved, only me. What problem is there?” Rivera questioned before the microphones.
“Anything I can say now, that I cannot prove with facts, will only be to fuel this popular trial. It has been a minimal mishap that could have happened to anyone. My fault, for having gotten lost because I went to take control; I’m sorry, I will take consequences,” said the right-hander, following what his lawyer already stated at the time about what happened. And he added: “I have no reason to collaborate in this circus that you are putting on. I do not understand this time that you are dedicating to this, with all the news that is happening in the world and that is important.”
The former bullfighter, who last September after leaving the Sevillian plaza of Écija on his shoulders, has also said that he is physically “well” and that, from an emotional point of view, he is trying to deal with the “harassment” to which he feels subjected “as best as possible.” Before the media, he has not clarified whether or not he refused to submit to the breathalyzer tests that the agents who showed up at his home after the road accident required. “What I want is to simply end this,” he concluded before entering the courthouse.
Although the first information told this newspaper that he tested positive for alcohol testing, they later specified that the right-hander refused to undergo it. The same municipal sources indicated that the Local Police filed a complaint for disobedience against the right-hander for refusing to carry out the control, mandatory in cases of traffic accidents. Early in the morning of November 10, the matador voluntarily appeared at the Alcalá de Guadaíra Police Headquarters to give his version of the events, as his lawyer, Joaquín Moeckel, confirmed to EL PAÍS. “If the police defend that they offered to take the test and they did not take it, the pertinent procedures will be followed,” his lawyer then told this newspaper.
On June 30, the right-hander was arrested. According to the police report, the bullfighter was “in a clear state of intoxication” and “ignored” when two plainclothes policemen approached him. Rivera was handcuffed by At seven in the morning, he was released with charges, accused of a crime of resisting authority and disobedience. Moeckel noted that the case had been closed.
