4 years in prison for a driver, former RN candidate, responsible for a fatal accident

A 25-year-old man, former RN candidate, known to the courts, was on trial this Wednesday, November 6, for fatally injuring a septuagenarian last September in Doubs. In a wild car, he violently hit the victim's vehicle and his passenger, near Pontarlier, at the La Vrine crossroads.

A special hearing took place this Wednesday at the Besançon criminal court. Quentin L., was on trial for immediate appearance for involuntary manslaughter and involuntary injuries, for causing a car accident, on September 7, 2024. The 25-year-old cross-border worker, a heating engineer in Switzerland, was at the wheel of a wild Audi that day. .

Around La Vrine, on the RN57, in the town of Val-d'Usiers in Doubs, he overtook several vehicles at high speed before hitting a Dacia which had just entered traffic. The rear of the Dacia is completely crushed. The 70-year-old driver, Claude G., was ejected from his vehicle and died. His passenger Roger M. is seriously injured. The driver of the Audi was remanded in custody on September 13 until his trial.

The driver who caused the accident is a former National Rally activist. He was deputy departmental referent for Génération Nation du Doubs in 2021. The same year, in June, he ran as an RN candidate for the departmental elections in the canton of Pontarlier in the commune of La Cluse-et-Mijoux, without success.

But Quentin L. is also known to the justice services. Five months after the elections, he was arrested and condemned for having damaged several mosques in Pontarlier, Montlebon and Besançon in Doubs. Lorraine crosses painted red are discovered on the walls.

The man was also convicted in 2020 and 2021 for domestic violence and carrying a category D weapon.

The courtroom is full. On the benches, the two families of the occupants of the Dacia. The families are related, the two men were brothers-in-law and lived nearby. The families have become civil parties in this case, as well as four road users present during the accident.

In the box, the defendant does not look at the courtroom and remains turned towards the court. He returns to the circumstances of the tragedy. On the day of the accident, ”I didn't have a specific goal, I was enjoying the sun. I will see (the vehicle) at the last second when it is in front of me. I was looking to my left at the restaurant, as I look up at the road, I see him in front of me.”

The expertise carried out by the gendarmerie did not make it possible to define the speed of the vehicle at the time of the impact. The testimonies of motorists read by the president indicate a vehicle which drove “like an arrow”, and that the Dacia had plenty of time to pass before the line of cars arrived. The defendant indicates that he does not know his speed at the time of impact:

I left the car running, it's 8th gear, between 100 and 110 kilometers per hour, that's roughly the feeling I had at that moment.

Questioned by the court about his relationship to speed, Quentin L. admitted “love speed and cars”. The vehicle apparently overtook four vehicles at high speed as they rounded a bend. “I think it's just that I thought I had confidence in myself. It's a car since it's mine, I know it. I know there's emergency braking, that sort of thing. I couldn't have imagined it would end like this. As a general rule, my eyes are more on the road than on the speedometer”he declared at the hearing.

The prosecutor pointed out that 14 offenses had been recorded on the accused's driving license since it was obtained in 2017. Videos in which he performed at very high speed on the road were found on his phone.

Regrets: “I never wanted this to happen.”

The defendant expressed regret following this fatal accident. “All of this leads to dramatic consequences, consequences that are not easy to live with that I keep in my conscience, I can only regret, I would never have wanted that to happen”declares Quentin L.

The lawyer for the civil parties, Maître Bernard, insisted that the defendant was a “murderer” who did not take responsibility for the crime and that he did not care about the offenses he committed in “selfishness”.

Crying is heard in the audience during the argument. The lawyer depicts that Roger M. passenger of the Dacia hit, is in a rehabilitation center, very morally affected.

The prosecution requested a five-year prison sentence with continued detention, a cancellation of the driving license and a ban on holding one for one year. The prosecutor also requested an “iban on driving any motor vehicle for one year to secure the roads of Haut-Doubs”.

For his part, defense lawyer Maître Jérôme Pichoff notably pleaded that the aggravating circumstance of the offense of speed equal to or greater than 50 km/h be removed. The radar located upstream of the accident site did not flash the car. He added that the Dacia lacked visibility before entering the intersection and that this is a sector “accident-prone”. The lawyer argued for a prison sentence with an electronic bracelet and sharing of civil responsibility.

Before the deliberation, the defendant wanted to address the families of the victims. “I would like to apologize to the families, the victims, I am sincerely sorry for this accidentsaid Quentin L.

The court sentenced the defendant to 4 years of imprisonment, notably in view of “of personality” by Quentin L, while following the prosecution's requisitions for driving bans, license bans and vehicle seizure. The aggravating circumstance of excess speed greater than or equal to 50 km/h was not taken into account. When the sentence was announced, the victims' families expressed a sigh of relief. The defendant, for his part, did not react.

The civil interests of the 23 civil parties and one of the road users will be judged in June 2025.