This Tuesday, January 14, a van hit three cyclists early in the morning in Rouen, including one who died during the day. The driver who fled at the time of the incident was arrested in the morning and placed in police custody. An investigation was opened for “murder” and “attempted murder”.
She had weapons in her vehicle and made incoherent comments: a motorist was taken into police custody after hitting several cyclists on Tuesday in Rouen, killing one of them, and she must be the subject of a psychiatric expertise.
The driver, in a hit-and-run incident, was arrested in Buchy, around thirty kilometers north of Rouen, and placed in police custody after hitting three cyclists in the city center, said the Rouen public prosecutor. Sébastien Gallois. The third victim, in a coma, died “in the middle of the day”according to Mr. Gallois.
It’s murder.
Name things by their names.— Sylvain (@astrobole) https://twitter.com/astrobole/status/1879178946572661171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Intoxicated
The woman driving the van, born in 1977, was not drunk at the time of her arrest but held “incoherent remarks without ideological or religious connotation” and share “suicidal intentions” during his custody, according to the prosecution.
Tests to determine possible drug use must be conducted. A psychiatric assessment will be carried out in a “short delay” on this driver unknown to the police.
Four category C weapons (firearms requiring a permit) or D (which can be purchased and possessed freely under conditions, for example tear gas bomb or collector’s weapon) were found in the vehicle, explained the prosecutor without further details. . The magistrate emphasized that “it is his employer, noting his departure with the vehicle shortly before the facts”who raised the alarm.
-“Absolute terror”
“At 8:45 a.m., a utility vehicle hit a cyclist from behind on rue de la République”specified Mr. Gallois, “then further on two others on the Teor route (bus from the Rouen metropolitan area, Editor’s note) rue Alsace-Lorraine in Rouen”.
This street in the hyper-center of Rouen is two-way for Teor buses but one-way in a single lane for cars and bicycles. Municipal police officers then pursued the vehicle, then the gendarmes, “in telephone contact with the driver, had taken over”traced the prosecutor.
The judicial police (PJ) of Rouen, responsible for the investigation opened for murder, attempted murder, aggravated refusal to comply, illegal transport of weapons, must still hear “many witnesses” and exploit video surveillance tapes.
“A gathering of around ten passers-by”
At least three other people, “a cyclist, a pedestrian and a driver, as well as municipal police officers” have been “mis en danger” during the chase between the police and the motorist.
A local resident interviewed by theAFP said he heard “loud cries coming from rue Alsace-Lorraine” and saw “a crowd of around ten passers-by gathered around a lifeless person on the ground” next to a bicycle. This witness saw police cars arriving “from every street corner and leaving at full speed, in a chase scene”before help arrived.
The mayor (PS) of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, expressed on the social network “absolute terror” and thanked the emergency services.
