A motorist was sentenced this Wednesday, May 7 by the Nantes Criminal Court on Wednesday, May 7 for endangering the life of others and involuntary injuries after his “apocalyptic” accident on the A83 in the Sorinières (Loire-Atlantique) on July 18, 2020, which had a resident of Essnandes as a victim.
The defendant slalomed that morning “like a madman” behind the wheel of his BMW: he still had 1.6 g of alcohol per liter of blood after having emptied “half a bottle of vodka mixed with Red Bull” with a work colleague “until 4 am”. After sleeping “on a sofa” with his host’s invitation, at the invitation of the latter, this financial advisor who had functions of “commercial on the road” had suddenly woken up with “a flash” in mind: he believed that he had “absolutely keep [ses] girls ”.
“Several barrels”
The 37-year-old aged man had “climbed” the portal of his colleague, “barefoot”, and had resumed the wheel at 8:30 a.m. after having doubled vehicles “by the right” and “on the emergency stop band” on the device, he had set a tank truck filled with 36,000 liters of fuel at 9:10 a.m.. The latter had then struck the wall which separated the two traffic axes, projecting pieces of concrete on the other track. The Esnande motorist who was going to Nantes airport and another couple who had “several tons” in his Peugeot 307 had then “believed to die”. The driver of the tanker had been able to explode “in extremis” from his cabin before she ignited; Thanks to his “miraculous reflex” to “ride on the ground”, he had hardly been affected by the flames … Only “the ends of the eyebrows” were burned, recalled his lawyer.
She is “forced to take anxiolytics” because she is “still awake several times a night”
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“Ecological damage” was “extremely important”, recalled the president of the court. “There were two plumes of smoke in the sky that day because it was the same day as the fire in the cathedral of Nantes,” said one of the victims. On this day of “big departures on vacation”, the ring road was “blocked for several hours” and traffic diverted throughout the city of Nantes. For his defense, the defendant had first invoked a possible crisis of “sleepwalking”, a hypothesis “rather rejected” by neurological expertise, according to the judge. An automotive expert, on the other hand, evaluated “150 km/h” the speed at which the accused was rolling.
“My client is a teleconetry in La Rochelle, she does not earn her life very well, but by dint of work and mischief, she had been able to pay a trip to the sun,” said the lawyer for the Charentaise-Maritime. “While she imagined discovering Maltese culture, she discovered a tanker truck that rushes straight over her. “Disappointed” to have “missed her flight”, the resident of Esnandes above all experienced an important “psychological impact”: after trying “hypnosis” and “EDMR” (therapy based on eye movements, editor’s note), she is “forced to take anxiolytics” because she is “still awake several times a night”. She also “consulted the La Rochelle sleep clinic,” said Me Julien Guillard.
Two years suspended sentence
The court finally sentenced the defendant, hitherto unknown to justice, two years in prison suspended, his driver’s license has been canceled and he will not be able to pass him before six months. On the civil level, the total amount of damages it will have to pay to the victims will be arrested on December 4, 2026.
