Cyclist crushed in Paris: “My life has turned upside down…” Paul’s mother comes out of silence and denounces “barbarism”

“I lost my son, someone killed my son.” Dignified in front of the M6 ​​camera, in jeans and a pink sweater, the mother of Paul Varry, the cyclist run over by a motorist in Paris on Tuesday, reacts for the first time to the death of the 27-year-old young man. “My life has changed,” says Nathalie Tison. “What’s the worst thing for a dad or a mom to lose their child? How are we going to live with that?” She says she feels “immense pain”.

The man who killed his son was driving an SUV. Ariel M. is a 52-year-old technical salesman. His teenage daughter was with him in the car on Tuesday evening in Paris on Boulevard Malesherbes. Justice opened an investigation into murder and the judge of freedoms and detention decided to imprison the motorist. When his incarceration was announced, the man burst into tears. “I’m sorry for what happened. I was never a thug, I never hung out with thugs.” The public prosecutor was concerned about the “dangerousness” of the driver.

? Paul Varry’s mother and one of his brothers speak of their pain after the death of the 27-year-old cyclist. Following an altercation in Paris, a motorist ran over the young man. The 52-year-old driver is indicted for murder.

? @frvignolle et @FredericPilard pic.twitter.com/O4JqD3ecsa

— M6 Info (@m6info)

Accident or driving error?

Antoine Varry is the brother of the killed cyclist. He believes that Paul’s death was not an accident. “Clearly, he drove into him on purpose. Paul was in front of the car. The car was stopped. Paul was in front. The person accelerated and drove over him twice, front wheel, back wheel. And he did another 10 meters. We can’t say it was an accident.

The motorist’s lawyer defends the accident theory. Me Franck Cohen describes “what 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”.

Also read:
Cyclist run over by a motorist in Paris: origins of the dispute, profile of the victim, attacks… 4 questions about this tragedy

An appointment with the ophthalmologist

Tuesday evening, the motorist took his 17-year-old daughter to the ophthalmologist. What did the lawyer say happened? “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. Mr. Franck Cohen said: “He lowered his car window to ask her to move but the victim immediately became angry, and rightly so. The victim hit the hood very hard, then told him that he was rolling on his foot.” And continued: “And then, my client backed up! Stepping back is proof that he did not intend to kill.”

The motorist’s lawyer assures that the driver stopped when he saw a crowd in the rearview mirror and that he himself “tried to resuscitate” the cyclist. “There is no hit and run.” He describes his client as “a very religious man”. This version “is categorically denied by the investigation,” says Yassine Bouzrou, lawyer for the family of cyclist Paul Varry. At this stage of the investigation, seven testimonies undermine the driver’s version of the tragedy.

On the side of the Paris prosecutor’s office, based on video surveillance images, it is estimated that the motorist went up the cycle path for 200 meters and “would have driven over the foot of the cyclist who was on his left”. Paul Varry “knocked on the hood to alert the driver, who initially backed away, releasing his foot. The cyclist let go of his bike to position himself at the front left of the car, showing his displeasure. The The driver then turned his wheels towards the pedestrian and resumed driving forward in his direction.

Gatherings in tribute to Paul

The cyclist Paul Varry was from La Faurie in the Hautes-Alpes, indicates The Dauphiné Libéré. He was taking courses at École 42 in Paris, a higher education establishment dedicated to training computer developers. he had just bought an apartment in Paris.

A tribute is planned in many cities in France this Saturday, October 19. Cyclists are invited to mark a minute of silence in front of their town hall at 5:45 p.m., the time of the fatal accident. Gatherings are planned in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, Rennes, Lille. In the region, gatherings are announced in Toulouse, in the Toulouse suburbs of Tournefeuille, Cugnaux and Ramonville, Montauban, Tarbes, Rodez, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Agen, Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The slogan: “say stop to motorized violence”.

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