“I’m sorry about what happened. I was never a thug, I never hung out with thugs”assured Ariel M. during a hearing before a judge of freedoms and detention, which AFP attended. After crying several times during the proceedings, the man with graying hair remained silent when the magistrate ordered his incarceration. The prosecution had requested pre-trial detention, insisting on “ disturbance of public order ». « Someone is dead, in the middle of the street, and this moves the French people “. So far, however, the government has been very silent.
The prosecutor was alarmed by the “dangerousness” of the driver and a “risk of renewal not necessarily of murder, but of the commission of a fairly serious offense ». « The disturbance to public order is obvious, but it is involuntary homicide”estimated the motorist’s lawyer, Franck Cohen. “ It’s a dramatically simple case”with “which appears to be a maneuvering error or a loss of control of the vehicle in the stress and anguish of a conflict situation from which he was trying to extricate himself “, he pleaded.
Me Cohen brushed aside the dangerous profile outlined by the prosecutor. According to information from the newspaper Le Parisien, around ten infractions were however observed during this journey near the young 27-year-old cyclist, such as red lights burned, bus lanes used, other cyclists brushed against, etc. “He is a quiet father of four children, two of whom are dependent, who took his 17-year-old daughter to an appointment with the ophthalmologist,” defended his lawyer.. He related the version of the facts of his client, a technical salesman living in the Paris region. “ The gentleman made the mistake of taking the cycle path because the ophthalmologist was waiting for him for his daughter and there, unfortunately, the victim was there. He rolled down his car window to ask her to move but the victim immediately became angry, and rightly so. The victim hit the hood really hard, then told him it was rolling over his foot.”.
« And there, my client backs down! Testimonies seem to say that he would have backed up to gain momentum, but with his vehicle (an SUV), there is no need to back up if you want to gain momentum. Backing away is proof he doesn’t intend to kill “, argued the lawyer. Finally, his client “ stopped » when he saw “in retro” that a crowd had formed. “He tried to resuscitate” the young man on the ground, “There is no hit and run. He would never have run away, he is a very religious man ,” Me Cohen emphasized.
« Danger public »
The suspect’s version “is categorically denied by the investigation”, reacted Yassine Bouzrou, lawyer for the family of the cyclist, Paul Varry. “My clients are relieved by the judge’s decision, because they believe that the murderer is a real danger to the public. He did not hesitate to coldly kill a man on the public highway in front of dozens of witnesses “, he said.
At this stage of the investigation, seven testimonies undermine the driver’s version of this tragedy, which took place Tuesday at 5:45 p.m., on Boulevard Malesherbes, in the 8th arrondissement. According to these testimonies and the use of video surveillance, “the driver of the vehicle was going up the cycle path for 200 meters and would have run over the foot of the cyclist who was on his left », had recounted the prosecution at the end of his custody.
Paul Varry « had knocked on the hood to alert the driver, who initially backed away, freeing his foot », Continues the public prosecutor. “The cyclist had dropped his bike and positioned himself at the front left of the car, showing his displeasure. The driver then turned his wheels towards the pedestrian and resumed driving forward in his direction. “, he added.
The front wheel then the rear wheel
« The autopsy confirmed the marks of the body being crossed by the vehicle” and “the video surveillance shows an elevation of the front, then the rear of the left side of the vehicle”said the prosecution.
The accident sparked strong reactions among elected officials in the capital, where “soft mobility”, in particular bicycles, has taken an increasingly prominent place in recent years. On Friday, the Paris town hall said it wanted “a place in Paris to bear the name” of the young cyclist. A minute of silence will also be observed in his tribute at the opening of the next Paris Council, on November 19. Cyclist demonstrations are planned for Saturday in France.
Belgium
