According to court documents consulted by HotNews, a motorist named Radu Scorțea spent eight years fighting an attempted murder prosecution fabricated by prosecutor Teodor Niță following a minor traffic altercation. Two Romanian courts ultimately cleared the driver after surveillance footage and expert testimony dismantled the prosecutor’s claims.
The Traffic Dispute and the Alleged Benzene Station Incident
The case began on April 13, 2015, when Radu Scorțea, then a volunteer medical assistant for the Constanța Ambulance Service, drove his family toward a forest picnic. According to Scorțea’s statements in court files, his vehicle encountered a cyclist riding in the middle of Dezrobirii street. That cyclist was prosecutor Teodor Niță, though the driver did not know his identity at the time. Scorțea honked because the cyclist blocked the road, prompting Niță to shout obscenities and throw a water bottle at the car’s windshield.
The two men later crossed paths at a petrol station. According to court records, prosecutor Niță claimed that Scorțea pursued him and tried to run him over by accelerating to roughly 60 kilometers per hour. However, surveillance footage and two expert reports—one technical and one forensic—contradicted the prosecutor’s version. The experts established that Niță’s bicycle moved at approximately 20 kilometers per hour inside the station, while Scorțea’s car entered at 5 kilometers per hour and was fully stopped at the moment of impact.
Jurisdictional Transfers and the Tulcea Acquittal
The investigation bounced across multiple offices before reaching a courtroom. Initial inquiries at the Constanța Tribunal Prosecutor’s Office shifted to the Constanța Court of Appeal—where Niță worked as a prosecutor—before the Prosecutor General transferred the file to Galați. Prosecutors at the Galați Tribunal initially declined the case, but the Galați Judicature Prosecutor’s Office reclassified the dispute as attempted murder. In 2019, Scorțea faced trial at the Constanța Tribunal, but his lawyer successfully moved the case to the Tulcea Tribunal because Niță’s wife had served as a judge at the Constanța court until 2018.
Romulus Pantea, the defense attorney who represented Scorțea in the first instance, told HotNews that local lawyers refused the case out of fear. “He reached me after being refused in Constanța by several lawyers,” Pantea stated, adding that the prosecution built a film-like scenario against a man with no prior conflicts. During the Tulcea trial, Teodor Niță denied aggressive behavior in traffic, citing religious reasons and his martial arts background. “I do not swear,” Niță told the court, according to hearing records. Despite the prosecutor’s assertions, the Tulcea Tribunal acquitted Scorțea on December 23, 2021, ruling that surveillance footage proved the driver had no intention to kill.
Appellate Decisions and Ongoing Legal Troubles for Niță
Galați tribunal prosecutors challenged the acquittal and demanded a prison sentence, pushing the case to the Galați Court of Appeal. After another three-year cycle, appellate judges confirmed that no evidence supported the attempted murder charge. For Scorțea, the eight-year ordeal included having his driver’s license suspended for three years during the initial investigation.
Legal challenges have since caught up with the prosecutor himself. According to reports, Teodor Niță was arrested in mid-May alongside his superior, Gigi Ștefan, in a separate corruption case, with the High Court of Cassation and Justice extending their detention on July 20. The two prosecutors previously appeared in connection with the case of Lucian Duță, the former head of the National Health Insurance House (CNAS). In 2022 court decisions, judges Daniela Panioglu and Alina Nadia Guluțanu from the Bucharest Court of Appeal noted that Ștefan and Niță had harassed key witnesses in the Duță bribery file. Although the Supreme Court later annulled Duță’s conviction in an extraordinary appeal, the scrutiny surrounding Niță’s prosecutorial conduct remains a matter of public record.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Radu Scorțea prosecuted for attempted murder?
According to court files, prosecutor Teodor Niță claimed that Scorțea deliberately tried to run him over with a car at a gas station following a traffic disagreement involving a bicycle and a thrown water bottle.
What did the forensic experts conclude about the gas station incident?
Independent technical and forensic reports established that Scorțea’s car entered the petrol station at 5 kilometers per hour and was stopped at the time of impact, directly contradicting the prosecutor’s claim of a 60 kilometer-per-hour assault.
Where did the trial take place?
After defense requests for relocation due to local magistrate ties, the case was tried at the Tulcea Tribunal, which acquitted the driver in December 2021, a ruling later upheld by the Galați Court of Appeal.
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