Released After 3.23 Per Mille, Back Behind the Wheel 29 Hours Later With 3.50: Only Then Did the Bitola Man End Up in Custody

On the evening of 7 November, around 9:30 pm, a police patrol in Bitola stops a Mercedes in the car park by the "Boro Churlevski" sports hall. Behind the wheel is 29-year-old H.J. The breathalyser shows 3.23 per mille. The driver is detained, the case is documented and, on paper at least, the story ends there.

It doesn't. On 9 November, at 2:41 am, H.J. is stopped again, this time on Partizanska Street, again in a Mercedes with Bitola plates. This time the breathalyser shows 3.50 per mille. Less than 30 hours passed between the two checks.

Only after the second arrest did the Bitola Interior Affairs Sector confirm that H.J. was behind the wheel both times, and the 29-year-old was ordered eight days in custody. In other words, the system reacted seriously once the man had proven his own guilt for the second time, in the middle of the night, on one of Bitola's busy streets.

3.50 per mille is not "a bit over". It's a level at which many people can barely stand, let alone drive. The question is simple: what happened after the first arrest that allowed a man with over three per mille to get behind the wheel again just a day later? Did he keep the car, was his licence taken on the spot?

The police statements don't show that. They only show that luck was on the side of everyone who was on Partizanska that night. Next time it might not be.