39-year-old drove BMW onto pavement, killed boy, 9, while on drugs and defying a court ban in Kuźnica Stara

Jakub Sz., a 39-year-old man from Starokrzepice, drove a BMW into a nine-year-old boy on a pavement in Kuźnica Stara, a village in the Kłobuck district of Silesia province, on 29 July 2026. The child, who was riding his bicycle near his home on Kolejowa Street, died in hospital in Opole during the night of 29 to 30 July from severe injuries.

What happened on the road

Police received the call around 7 PM. Jakub Sz. was driving a BMW from the direction of Przystajń when, on a bend, he left the road, mounted the pavement and struck the boy. The car then demolished a fence and came to rest on private property. An air ambulance flew the child to hospital in Opole, where resuscitation continued, but doctors could not save him. Witnesses told Fakt that the driver behaved irrationally after the crash, showing no interest in the injured child, and that all three occupants appeared to remove items from the boot and hide them in their pockets.

Driver was on drugs and banned from driving

A breathalyser test showed no alcohol, but officers found 29 grams of drugs in the car (marijuana and amphetamine, described by Fakt as roughly 300 dealer doses). Toxicology results, received by the prosecutor on Friday 31 July, confirmed Jakub Sz. was under the influence of narcotics at the wheel. Investigators also established that a five-year driving ban, imposed by the District Court in Częstochowa after he was convicted of riding a motorcycle while on drugs, fleeing a police chase, and possessing amphetamine, had become final on 1 July 2026. That earlier sentence was one year in prison suspended for two years. The ban was already active when he got into the car on 29 July.

Charges and pre-trial detention

Prosecutor Tomasz Ozimek, spokesman for the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Częstochowa, stated that Jakub Sz. has been charged with causing a fatal road accident while under the influence of drugs and while subject to a driving ban, as well as driving under the influence, possessing drugs and supplying them to others. He admitted the charges and gave explanations. The prosecutor applied for pre-trial detention, citing the severe penalty of 5 to 20 years in prison, a risk of flight or hiding, and a risk of tampering with evidence. The court granted three months' custody.

Father disowns his son

Zbigniew Sz., the 75-year-old father of the suspect, told Fakt he no longer considers Jakub his son.

I have two children now, he is not one of them. Stupid, boundlessly stupid. He ruined his own life, ours, and the family of that boy.

The father said his son would come home only to eat and sleep, like a hotel, and had recently returned from work in Germany. Police searched the family home after the accident but found nothing. The father said he had never held a joint in his life and did not know his son was taking drugs.

Prior record

Before the fatal crash, Jakub Sz. had been convicted several times. In addition to the motorcycle-and-amphetamine case decided this year, he had earlier convictions for drug possession and for swapping licence plates between vehicles. The suspended sentence and the five-year driving ban were confirmed just weeks before he drove into the child.