(Paris) The French humorist Pierre Palmade, involved in a serious road accident while he had consumed cocaine, was placed in police custody on Wednesday, as were two men suspected of being his passengers who had fled.
“Mr. Palmade was taken into custody at 1:55 p.m.” (7:55 a.m. Eastern time), Jean-Michel Bourlès, prosecutor for Melun, not far from Paris, told AFP.
Hospitalized in Paris after the accident and now out of danger, he was transferred to the hospital in this city located east of the capital to be heard there, we learned from a source close to the investigation. .
According to the first elements of the investigation communicated by the magistrate, the vehicle driven by Pierre Palmade struck Friday evening about fifty kilometers south of Paris, for a reason still undetermined, a vehicle which was coming in front.
Tests revealed that he was positive for cocaine at the time of the collision.
The 54-year-old comedian and the three occupants of the other vehicle, a man, his six-year-old child and his sister-in-law – who was six and a half months pregnant and lost her baby – were seriously injured. wounded.
In intensive care
Two of the three victims of the hit vehicle “were still in intensive care” on Wednesday morning, their lawyer Me Mourad Battikh, on the BFMTV channel.
The driver “underwent seven operations” while his six-year-old son, “disfigured”, “is fed by a probe”, detailed the lawyer. The third victim, a 27-year-old woman, was expecting “her first child”, “a little girl”.
The Melun public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for homicide and involuntary injuries resulting in total incapacity for work for more than three months, by driver under the influence of narcotics.
Witnesses said they saw two men in their twenties running away from Pierre Palmade’s car after the accident.
A man suspected of having been one of them was arrested in the Paris region. A woman, who was hosting this 33-year-old Moroccan unknown to the police, was also arrested at her home.
The second, whose lawyer had announced to the investigators that he was going to surrender, was placed in police custody in turn at the end of the day, according to a police source.
Their hearings should allow investigators to understand the reasons for their flight and what they did after the accident. They will also be questioned about the circumstances of the accident and the hours that preceded it.
The actor, one of the most popular comedians in France – already convicted several times for drug use – expressed his “shame” and is ready to assume “the consequences of his actions”, assured his sister Hélène Palmade on Tuesday in a statement.
Narcotics are responsible for approximately 20% of road deaths each year in France.