A Moscow policeman is suspected of shooting dead a man who accidentally brushed him with a car when parking, city police reported on Friday.
The men, both of whom were accompanied by spouses, fell into a hot verbal spat that ended with the policeman shooting the driver through the windshield, the report said.
The victim’s wife rushed to drive him to hospital, but he died on the way of a bullet wound to the chest, police said.
The incident took place in northwestern Moscow on Sunday, but the suspect, a staff sergeant of the city police’s unit providing commercial guard services, was only detained four days later, police said. It did not identify any of the people involved in the incident.
The policeman faces up to life in prison if charged and convicted over the shooting. He is also suspected of having obtained the weapon illegally.
The sergeant and five of his superiors will be discharged over the incident, police said.
Abuse of authority by Russian police, widely acknowledged as a systemic problem, entered the media spotlight again this month when district police in Tatarstan allegedly raped a theft suspect to death with a champagne bottle. A case is ongoing, and several police officers already lost their job over the scandal.
