(Bobigny) The prosecution on Monday requested a trial for homicide and involuntary injuries against French comedian Pierre Palmade for a serious road accident that he caused in 2023 while under the influence of drugs.
On February 10, 2023, on a departmental road in the Paris region, Pierre Palmade collided with a vehicle. In addition to the actor, the accident left three seriously injured: a 38-year-old man, his 6-year-old son and his 27-year-old sister-in-law, who lost the baby she was expecting after the collision. The affair caused a stir in France.
Confirming information from the newspaper The Parisianthe Melun prosecutor, Jean-Michel Bourlès, told AFP that the public prosecutor had requested Monday the dismissal for homicide and involuntary injuries.
The final decision rests with the investigating judge responsible for the investigation. If it follows the prosecutor’s request for prosecution of the charge of “involuntary homicide”, this qualification should give rise to a thorny legal debate around the unborn baby: in French criminal law, the fetus does not exist, its death does not can therefore be blamed on anyone.
According to a medical report, the baby the passenger was carrying died before birth and therefore cannot legally be considered a human person.
“This child is viable, but not alive at birth […] The few heartbeats observed around 16 minutes after birth are insufficient to ensure effective circulatory function and can in no way be considered as signs of extra-uterine life,” according to the report consulted by AFP.
Having suffered from drug addiction problems for decades, the 55-year-old actor admitted during the investigation to having consumed cocaine and synthetic drugs before getting behind the wheel.
Asked by AFP, Pierre Palmade’s lawyer, Me Céline Lasek, did not wish to comment.