Irkutsk police said Wednesday that a driver who showed more concern about her car than two women whom she critically injured in a crash in December faces possible criminal charges.
Public indignation has been growing about the incident after local media reported Sunday that police were treating the 28-year-old driver, Anna Shavenkova, daughter of the Irkutsk region's election committee chairwoman, as a witness in their investigation.
Shavenkova plowed her car into two sisters on a sidewalk in the city of Irkutsk on Dec. 2. A security camera on a nearby building taped Shavenkova getting out of the car to look for possible damage to the hood, paying no attention to the seriously injured women lying nearby. One of the women later died in the hospital.
The video has been posted on YouTube (embedded below).
Police said in a statement Wednesday that Shavenkova, an adviser with the ruling United Russia party in the local legislature, was now considered a suspect and might be charged with vehicular manslaughter.
If charged and convicted, Shavenkova faces up to five years in prison.
But local news web site Babr.ru, which first reported that Shavenkova was being treated as a witness, said police had failed to test her for signs of alcohol consumption.
Radio Liberty reported Wednesday that police have not been able to interview Shavenkova because she has sent them a doctor's note saying she is pregnant.