A terrible accident occurred on Saturday December 21 around 10:30 p.m. on the A 709 motorway between Montpellier and Nîmes, near Saint-Aunès. Two people died: the driver of a motorcycle, aged 30, living in Castries, and his passenger, 17 years old, from Saint-Just. The investigation continues.
Since the fatal accident which took place this Saturday, December 21 around 10:30 p.m. on the A709 motorway, in the direction of Montpellier-Nîmes near exit no. 28 “Vendargues-Baillargues”, and which involved a vehicle of the Hérault gendarmerie, “all necessary means of investigation have been employed to shed light on the unfolding of this tragic event”specifies Laurent Fekkar, deputy public prosecutor, requested by Free Midday.
You should know that as of Sunday morning, the Montpellier public prosecutor's office entrusted the direction of the investigation to the judicial investigation office (BEJ) of the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie (IGGN), a judicial investigation service with specialized national competence. in internal investigations and placed under the direction of a magistrate, “in order to provide all guarantees of completeness and objectivity in the investigation”.
Around ten investigators from this service located in Malakoff (92) and its Montpellier detachment were engaged in the first hours following the accident. It is this service which will ensure the conduct of investigations throughout the duration of the investigation.
139 km/h instead of 90, without license or insurance
On the evening of the tragedy, it appears that a chase had begun after the Saint-Jean-de-Védas tollbooth between a rapid intervention vehicle of the Alpine type gendarmerie in which there were two soldiers and a motorcycle. , driven by a 30-year-old Castriote, without a license or insurance, accompanied by a 17-year-old girl from Saint-Just.
The motorcycle had just been checked there at a speed of 139 km/h on an axis limited to 90 km/h. What happened eighteen kilometers away? It's too early to tell. One thing is certain, the pilot and his passenger died after falling heavily. As for the two soldiers on board the Alpine, they were slightly injured.
ML – DR
Note that this chase could be the cause of an accident which occurred almost simultaneously a few hundred meters before the fatal collision where five people were injured in a pile-up which involved several vehicles.
Determine the precise course of the accident
And Laurent Fekkar clarified: “The technical findings were carried out, from Saturday evening, by the criminal identification specialists from Montpellier responsible for taking the first samples and preserving the traces, clues and material elements which will make it possible to understand what really happened. “.
These technical operations will be completed and deepened by specialists from the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) and, in particular, its experts from the “vehicles” department located in the Paris region. These specialists will carry out all the necessary scientific examinations based on the analysis of the vehicles, the accident scene, traces and clues, “in order to reconstruct as far as possible the precise course of the accident and to determine the respective implications of the different accident vehicles“.
In light of the first investigations and technical findings, and contrary to what was assumed in the aftermath of the tragedy, “the thesis of a direct collision between the gendarmerie vehicle and the motorcycle of the two victims is called into question”concludes the magistrate. The investigation continues.
