The driver, who crashed into a terrace in Paris on Wednesday, July 17, was arrested and taken into custody. The possibility of an intentional act is on the table.
A car hit several people on Wednesday evening around 7:30 p.m. while they were on the terrace of the Le Ramus restaurant, located at 6 avenue du Père Lachaise, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The provisional toll is one dead and six people injured, three of whom are in absolute emergency and three others in relative emergency. The mayor of the 20th arrondissement, Éric Pliez, indicated that “all the injured are customers” of the restaurant.
The driver of the Toyota fled the scene before being arrested and taken into custody for “involuntary manslaughter, involuntary injury by the driver and endangerment”. The investigation was entrusted to the Accident Judicial Processing Service (STJA). The police searched the car, ensuring that there were no explosives inside.
During his police custody, the driver made statements that led the Paris prosecutor’s office to reclassify the investigation as “murder and attempted murder”, the Criminal Brigade was called in to take charge of the case. The prosecutor stated that the act “could be intentional”.
An accident under the influence of alcohol and drugs?
According to Le Figarothe driver was identified as Karamoko S., a 24-year-old man. According to a police source to the daily, his vehicle had already been ticketed a few days ago. Investigations are also underway to find out if he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the tragedy.
On Wednesday evening, it was stated that a passenger in the vehicle had been arrested and tested positive for drugs and alcohol. The public prosecutor, for his part, assured that it had not been established that there was a passenger in the car at the time of the tragedy. Grey areas therefore still need to be clarified.
The “road accident” theory initially favoured is therefore no longer the only one. A waiter at a nearby café reported that the car had passed “at full speed” and had “jumped the no entry sign” then “sped off”. Another witness, a customer at the café, also claimed to have heard the car “coming at full speed”, according to BFMTVHe added that the window of the restaurant had then “shattered”. A psychological unit was opened at the town hall of the district to support witnesses of the scene.