“Madam, are you still a professional cyclist? », questioned judge Christophe Le Petitcorps, Thursday June 27, addressing a young woman, in tears, sitting on one of the benches in the courtroom of the Quimper court. ” No. I had to stop my career partly because of the accident,” the victim replied, overcome by emotion. And for good reason. On April 19, she came close to the worst. “The helmet was considerably damaged. He probably saved his life,” said the Quimper magistrate.
It was a pretty ordinary Tuesday afternoon. That day, the victim, her partner and her coach were traveling on a departmental road towards Concarneau. Then, as they approached a series of two bends, near Melgven, an SUV-type car rolled up behind them before accelerating, “fishtailing” them and braking suddenly. A dangerous maneuver which led, without collision, to the violent fall of the young woman down an embankment.
30 days of ITT
Broken wrist, head trauma… A medical certificate of thirty days of ITT had been issued to her by a doctor. A woman who, more than two years after the events, still has “physical and psychological after-effects”. “Mr. is absolutely unaware of the seriousness of the facts with very significant consequences. She had to put an end to a promising career with important deadlines: the French championships, the Tour de France…”, deplored the lawyer for the civil party.
At the hearing, the driver, a 36-year-old from Concarnois, appeared for endangering others and causing unintentional injury. A hearing during which the thirty-year-old tried to explain his version of events. Stuck for “two minutes” behind the cyclists, traveling between 45 and 50 km/h, he had honked his horn, “twice”, before accelerating, overtaking them and braking while pulling back in because “there was a speed camera and I was traveling between 82 and 86 km/h”. According to him, it was not at all a voluntary act.
The defendant cultivated cannabis
“There was no educational radar,” the victim replied, affirming that it was, for her, a completely deliberate braking to make her fall. After the accident, the motorist fled, returning home where he smoked a joint of cannabis before being arrested. At his home, the police seized 179 g of herbal cannabis, seeds, nine plants of flowering cannabis, a cultivation chamber and a precision scale. “I was gardening,” explained this drug user whose criminal record includes two mentions. In its submissions, the public prosecutor requested six months in prison with a probationary suspension of two years. The case was reserved until July 4.
