The accident, February 10, 2023
On February 10, 2023 at the end of the day, Pierre Palmade took the wheel to go shopping, after several days of partying and drug use. On a road in the south of the Seine-et-Marne department, his car veered off course and hit a vehicle coming in front. Pierre Palmade then had a large quantity of cocaine and 3MMC (a synthetic drug) in his blood when he got behind the wheel with 2 friends from “bringue”, who were not prosecuted. In addition to the 54-year-old actor, the accident left three seriously injured from the same family: a 38-year-old man, his six-year-old son and his 27-year-old sister-in-law, who lost the baby she was carrying after the impact. was waiting.
After the accident, the baby was urgently extracted by cesarean section from his mother's womb at six months of pregnancy, but declared dead after 32 minutes of resuscitation, without having given any sign of extra-uterine life.
Legal debate
At the end of May, the investigating judge referred Pierre Palmade to the Melun criminal court on the sole charge of involuntary injuries, aggravated by the use of drugs. She did not retain the qualification of involuntary homicide, which the prosecution had requested for the loss of the fetus. The decision is based on consistent case law from the Court of Cassation which has ruled on similar cases of road accidents, a child who is not born alive does not exist as a legal person.
After-effects for the victims
The injured family members are still suffering the physical and psychological after-effects of the accident. “I had surgery on my stomach, shoulders, legs, feet,” testified Yuksel Yakut, the injured 38-year-old man, in the show “Sept à quatre” on TF1. “I have such intense pain that I am exhausted and feel like my brain is going to explode. When I walk, the plaques in my legs hurt a lot. Even when washing and to walk, I have to ask my loved ones for help”, he testifies before talking about his son, 6 years old. “He doesn't want to go outside anymore because of the scars on his head, he's in constant pain.”explains Yuksel Yakut. Her son particularly has difficulty concentrating at school and also suffers from “iron plates placed in his mouth”.
“I am horrified to know that I am the cause of all this (…) I ruined the life of a family. I go to sleep and I wake up with that, sincerely”declared the artist to the judge in charge of the investigation, during an interrogation at the Melun court on September 26.
Penalty incurred
During the accident, Pierre Palmade was a repeat offender due to a conviction in 2019 for drug use. He thus faces a sentence of fourteen years' imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 euros. If the qualification of “involuntary manslaughter” had been retained, the penalty incurred would have been 20 years in prison.
For their part, the victims deplore the decision to dismiss the comedian only for “unintentional injuries” and not for “involuntary manslaughter”. “The mother does not accept this decision. Considering that the unborn child is legally nothing and that he bears no rights is a legal aberration.” regretted their lawyer, Mourad Battikh, at the microphone of France Info.
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