(Melun) A 54-year-old French humorist, Pierre Palmade, who caused a serious traffic accident while under the influence of cocaine a week ago in France, was charged with manslaughter on Friday and placed under house arrest in a hospital, according to a judicial source.
Posted at 2:53pm
The prosecutor’s office in Melun near Paris, which had requested pre-trial detention, will appeal this decision by a coroner about house arrest with an electronic bracelet in a hospital addiction clinic, we said from the same source.
On the evening of February 10, the vehicle driven by Pierre Palmade collided with an oncoming vehicle about fifty kilometers south of Paris.
Tests showed he was positive for cocaine at the time of the collision.
The three occupants of the other vehicle, a 38-year-old man, his six-year-old son and his 27-year-old sister-in-law – six and a half months pregnant and who lost her baby – were seriously injured.
On Friday, the man and his child were still being treated in critical condition in intensive care, according to Melun prosecutors.
The comedian was also injured in the collision.
He “admitted having used cocaine and synthetic drugs before driving,” but said he “had no precise recollection of the circumstances surrounding the accident,” said Melun prosecutor Jean-Michel Bourlès.
Two men, a 33-year-old Moroccan and a 34-year-old Frenchman, occupants in the artist’s car, who fled the scene of the accident before help arrived, were placed in the status of assisted witnesses for failing to provide assistance, putting the person at risk.
“They had also consumed narcotics,” the prosecutor said.
Pierre Palmade, who is popular in France, has already been convicted several times for drug use. According to his sister Hélène Palmade, he was ashamed after the accident and was ready to “take the consequences of his actions”.
Narcotics are responsible for around 20% of road deaths in France every year.