The Crime Chamber confirmed the dismissal of Cruz Novillo Astrada, the polo player who in 2023 ran over and killed a homeless person in the Retiro neighborhood of Buenos Aires, for which he was charged with manslaughter and abandonment of a person. At the end of September this year, Judge Marcos Fernández ruled the dismissal of the polo player, explaining that "in a situation like the one configured in the present, which does not allow for any criminal hypothesis to be substantiated, a ruling is required to end the uncertainty experienced by the person involved in these proceedings."
Now, after the review by judges Magdalena Laíño and Julio Marcelo Lucini, members of Chamber VI of the National Criminal and Correctional Appeals Court, it was confirmed that the judicial process against Astrada is suspended. "The collected evidence outright dismisses any recklessness or negligence in Novillo Astrada's actions, so the victim's death cannot be objectively attributed to him. On the contrary, his defense was validated by the plethora of evidence already analyzed that undoubtedly proves that the outcome is entirely attributable to the victim, who unexpectedly invaded the lane where the defendant was driving and caused the collision with the vehicle," highlights the document accessed by the media La Nación.
In the early hours of September 17, 2023, the recognized 25-year-old polo player ran over and killed a homeless person at the intersection of Avenida 9 de Julio and Arroyo. With his Volkswagen Amarok truck, he hit Germán Bello, 36 years old, and although he fled the scene, hours later he turned himself in at the police station along with his lawyer, Rafael Cáneo Libarona, his parents, and the vehicle.
In justifying the decision, Judge Fernández emphasized that the victim crossed, staggering from alcohol and drug consumption, through the avenue when the traffic light did not allow it, and that other vehicles had to swerve to avoid hitting him, a maneuver that Astrada failed to execute.
