According to a press release from the prosecutor sent this Thursday, April 6 at the beginning of the afternoon, a 10-year-old child hit in La Rochelle by an 83-year-old driver is brain dead.
A “frontal collision” involving a group of children on bicycles and an octogenarian motorist, Wednesday June 5 in La Rochelle, left seven injured, three of whom were serious. This Thursday, the prosecution announced that one of the victims was brain dead, offering its condolences to the family.
“The 10-year-old child hospitalized in Tours was declared brain dead today by the medical profession. The La Rochelle public prosecutor’s office expresses its deep condolences to the victim’s family and sympathizes with their pain,” we can say. read in the press release from the public prosecutor.
This little girl, who was part of this group of twelve children aged 7 to 11 years old registered in a municipal leisure center, had been evacuated by helicopter and hospitalized in Tours in an “extreme emergency” the day before.
What about the other children?
“Regarding the other injured children, a 10-year-old child in absolute emergency is still hospitalized in serious condition in Poitiers. Another 9-year-old child, initially hospitalized in La Rochelle in relative emergency, was transferred to Poitiers under observation. An 11-year-old child hospitalized in La Rochelle in an absolute emergency is experiencing positive developments in her state of health,” continues the prosecutor in the press release.
“Finally, a fifth and final 9-year-old child in relative emergency was operated on this morning in La Rochelle but is in stable condition. The last two physically injured children left the hospital yesterday.”
The flagrant investigation opened for “unintentional injuries by the driver of a vehicle” was reclassified as “involuntary homicide by the driver of a land motor vehicle”. The 83-year-old woman in question is still interned in a specialized unit and has not been able to be heard, the press release concludes.
A Twingo going against the flow
The facts occurred Wednesday morning around 10 a.m. on a two-way avenue, close to the city center and limited to 30 km/h, while the children were going to an orienteering race in a public park, in the setting of a leisure center.
They were hit “in a head-on collision” by a yellow Twingo “coming in the wrong direction” after having “suddenly veered to the left, for no apparent reason”, the prosecution said yesterday.
The children, wearing helmets and reflective vests, were supervised by two instructors and “were used to traveling by bike. They do it regularly”, said the town hall of La Rochelle. This portion of the avenue does not yet have a cycle path, according to the municipality. “It is planned but not to date,” declared Catherine Léonidas, first deputy mayor.
