Seven children were injured, three of them seriously, after being hit by a car on their bike this Wednesday morning in La Rochelle. The public prosecutor’s office, the city and the prefect of Charente-Maritime have since provided several elements in order to find out more about the circumstances of this tragedy. The driver, aged 83, was hospitalized.
“Since 10 a.m. this morning, La Rochelle and the department of Charente-Maritime have been experiencing a tragedy,” declared this Wednesday at the beginning of the afternoon the secretary general of the prefecture of Charente-Maritime, Emmanuel Cayron, after the accident having injured seven children who were riding a bicycle, hit by a car.
He reported the “very heavy” toll of the victims, with a “very seriously injured child airlifted to Tours, two in absolute emergency including one evacuated to Poitiers and four in relative emergency hospitalized in La Rochelle”.
Yellow vests and helmets
“The priority was to rescue the children and take care of those who were not injured but shocked by this trying scene,” added Emmanuel Cayron. 40 firefighters, 30 police officers and two Smur crews were mobilized.
The children were equipped with yellow vests and helmets, as were their companions, said the municipal official. Concerning the age of the children, it is between “8 and 11 years”, specified the deputy mayor of La Rochelle, Catherine Leonidas. The group of children came from three elementary schools, including Bernard Palissy’s for the most part, she added.
Three psychological cells
Three psychological units will be set up and the rector of the academy will be present on site from this Thursday, announced the academic director of the departmental services of National Education. “Reinforcements from other neighboring departments of Charente-Maritime” will also be on site from this Thursday at 8 a.m.
A yellow Twingo
The children were hit by a yellow Twingo on a two-way traffic lane, a “frontal impact” whose cause is “not determined”, declared the prosecution, which opened an investigation into unintentional injuries.
“The lady went all the way up the street in the left lane going against the flow, she no longer knew what she was doing,” Yann, a forty-year-old living on the avenue, told AFP. “I heard the sound of the impact, I heard the screams,” he said. “It’s not the first time this has happened, there have been four accidents in five years on this avenue because people drive too fast.”
No cycle path
Concerning the location of the accident, Avenue Coligny, limited to 30km/h, the deputy mayor of La Rochelle Catherine Leonidas confirmed that there was no cycle path there. “It is planned but not to date,” she said, adding that “the first part of the journey was made on a cycle path” and that the last part to reach Frank Delmas Park was made up of it. The place is not “accident-prone”, she clarified.
The driver negative for alcohol and drugs
Concerning the driver of the vehicle causing the accident, she is 83 years old, the La Rochelle prosecutor’s office said shortly before, cited by AFP. “The driver, aged 83, tested negative for alcohol and narcotics,” said prosecutor Arnaud Laraize in a press release. Initially placed in police custody, the motorist was hospitalized and her custody “lifted due to medical incompatibility”.
“She is hospitalized and cannot yet be interviewed,” added the prosecutor. The investigation was entrusted to the Interdepartmental Directorate of the National Police (DIPN) of La Rochelle, which began to question witnesses and search for possible images from surveillance cameras. “Let the police officers and magistrates work,” pleaded Emmanuel Cayron.
