A 21-year-old student has been arrested in connection with a weekend crash that maimed the son-in-law of Transneft president Nikolai Tokarev.
Kristina Asafova, apparently intoxicated, was driving a Mercedes sedan on Kutuzovsky Prospekt away from the city center around noon Saturday when she struck a BMW motorcycle driven by Tokarev’s son-in-law, Andrei Bolotov, investigators said.
Her car then veered into the oncoming lane and hit two other vehicles.
Bolotov, who until March had served as a vice president at state-owned VTB, was hospitalized in critical condition, and his right leg had to be amputated, investigators said.
A second person, the driver of one of the cars that Asafova hit, was also hospitalized with suspected chest injuries.
Eyewitnesses said the initial collision was caused by Asafova in her attempt to cross several lanes, Interfax reported.
An initial police test showed the alcohol content in Asafova’s blood to be 3 parts per million, which corresponds to a bottle of hard liquor, Interfax said.
Her lawyer later contested that result, however.
Asafova, who turned herself in to authorities voluntarily, apologized before reporters at the court and acknowledged that she had drunk alcohol prior to the trip.
If convicted of reckless drunk driving, Asafova faces up to four years in prison.
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