French humorist Pierre Palmade, already charged in the serious road accident he caused while under the influence of cocaine, is now the target of an investigation for possession of child pornography images, further clouding his legal horizons.
• Also read: Pierre Palmade under house arrest in a hospital
• Also read: Comedian Pierre Palmade is still being questioned by the police
• Also read: Comedian Pierre Palmade arrested by the police
These investigations were initiated on Saturday after a report to the police, the authors of which still have to be heard by the investigators, said the Paris public prosecutor on Sunday.
Contacted by AFP, the comedian’s attorney, Me Céline Lasek, declined to speak.
According to broadcaster BFMTV, a man “contacted police to indicate that he had in his possession videos and audio showing Pierre Palmade had child pornography images.” Investigators will therefore call on him to “verify the veracity of his allegations,” BFMTV specified.
Pierre Palmade has caused a legal and media storm since the car he was driving after using cocaine and synthetic drugs collided with a vehicle arriving opposite him about fifty kilometers south of Paris on February 10.
The collision left three members of the same family seriously injured: a man, his 6-year-old son and his sister-in-law, who was six and a half months pregnant and lost her baby.
The 54-year-old comedian, who has struggled with serious addiction problems for years, was brought before a judge on Friday, specifically on charges of manslaughter and negligent bodily harm.
The actor escaped from prison, at least temporarily, and found himself assigned to a hospital’s addiction services under an electronic bracelet.
The Melun prosecutor, who had requested his pre-trial detention, appealed this point.
The two occupants in his car at the time of the accident, a 33-year-old Moroccan and a 34-year-old Frenchman, were given the status of assisted witness for failing to provide assistance to a person at risk. They had left the scene of the accident shortly after the accident.
If Pierre Palmade has not spoken publicly since the affair began, his sister reported earlier this week that the comedian was “shamed” by “the horror of what happened that ‘he caused’.
Pierre Palmade was convicted of cocaine use in 1995. In 2019, he was arrested for using and acquiring narcotics after being falsely accused of rape.