A 10-year-old girl, who was part of the group of seven children struck Wednesday in La Rochelle, was declared brain dead, the La Rochelle prosecutor’s office announced in a press release. On Wednesday, a group of twelve children aged 8 to 11 enrolled in a municipal leisure center and who were riding bicycles were hit head-on by an 83-year-old motorist.
A 10-year-old girl, who was part of the group of seven children hit by a car on Wednesday in La Rochelle, was declared brain dead, the La Rochelle prosecutor’s office announced in a press release. On Wednesday, a group of twelve children aged 8 to 11 enrolled in a municipal leisure center and who were riding bicycles were hit head-on by an 83-year-old motorist.
Another 10-year-old child is “still in absolute emergency”, adds the prosecution in its press release. A third 9-year-old girl “hospitalized in La Rochelle in a relative emergency was transferred to Poitiers for observation”.
The children “used to travel by bike”
The facts occurred Wednesday morning around 10:00 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 frontal impact” by a yellow Twingo “coming in the wrong direction” after having “suddenly shifted to the left, for no apparent reason”, said the prosecution, which opened an investigation into unintentional injuries.
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.
“The driver, aged 83, tested negative for alcohol and narcotics,” prosecutor Arnaud Laraize said in a press release. Initially placed in police custody, the motorist was transferred to a “specialized hospital structure” and his police custody lifted “for medical incompatibility”. 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.
