Cayetano Rivera (Madrid, 48 years old) appeared on Monday 17 November before the court of Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) in relation to the car accident in which he was involved last Sunday, 9 November, when his vehicle crashed into a palm tree in a roundabout at the entrance to the Sevilla Golf residential complex, near Montequinto. A road accident from which no personal injuries were reported, as the steed remained unharmed; but there was material damage.
He was received by dozens of journalists at the gates of the Alcalá de Guadaíra Court, where he was summoned after what happened near his home. Before testifying before the judge, Carmina Ordóñez y Paquirri’s son told the media that “whatever he has to say”, he will tell the judge and that he will make “the decision he has to make” and “it’s over”. The bullfighter, visibly “uncomfortable” with the media attention, lamented the “parallel trial” he underwent after the accident: “A roundabout, no cars involved, no people involved, just me. What’s the problem?” Rivera asked in front of the microphones.
“Everything I can say now, which I cannot prove with facts, will only serve to fuel this popular trial. It was a small accident that could have happened to anyone. My fault, that I got confused because I went to take control; I’m sorry, I will take the consequences”, said the right-hander, following what his lawyer had already stated at the time about the incident. And he added: “I have no reason to collaborate in this circus that you are setting up. I don’t understand this time that you dedicate to it, with all the news that is happening in the world and that is important.”
The former bullfighter, who last September announced his retirement from the bullring after leaving the Seville square of Écija behind, also said that physically he feels “well” and that, from an emotional point of view, he is trying to deal with the “harassment” to which he feels subjected “in the best possible way”. He did not clarify in front of the media whether or not he refused to take the breathalyzer test requested by the officers who showed up at his home after the car accident. “What I want is simply to put an end to this story,” he concluded before entering the court.
Although this newspaper initially reported that he had tested positive for alcohol, they later said that the right-hander had refused to take the test. The same municipal sources reported that the Local Police filed a complaint for disobedience towards the steed for refusing to carry out the check, which is mandatory in the event of road accidents. Early in the morning of November 10, the matador voluntarily presented himself at the Alcalá de Guadaíra Police Headquarters to give his version of events, as his lawyer, Joaquín Moeckel, confirmed to EL PAÍS. “If the police claim that they offered to take the test and did not do so, the relevant procedures will be followed,” his lawyer later told this newspaper.
On June 30, the right-hander was arrested after being involved in an incident with employees of a hamburger restaurant in Madrid. According to the police report, the bullfighter was “in an evident state of intoxication” and “ignored” when two plainclothes police officers approached him. Rivera was handcuffed by officers at the scene and spent the night in a cell. At seven in the morning he was released on charges of resisting authority and disobedience. Moeckel noted that the case had been closed.
