The shock is equal to the violence of the shock. On Wednesday, around 7:30 p.m., a car crashed into the terrace of Ramus, a restaurant in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, a stone’s throw from the Père-Lachaise cemetery. While the initial elements of the investigation suggested a traffic accident, the driver’s statements in police custody suggest a new scenario. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the driver – a 24-year-old Frenchman who has never been convicted – made comments “suggesting that the act could have been intentional.”
The investigation has been reclassified as murder and attempted murder, and the investigations have been entrusted to the criminal brigade of the Paris Police Prefecture. The human toll is particularly heavy: one person died and six others were injured, three of whom are still in critical condition this Thursday morning.
Transfer to the psychiatric infirmary
At one time presented as being on the run, the driver of the vehicle was arrested at the scene of the tragedy and taken into custody in the evening. His custody was lifted this Thursday morning, around 10:40, with a view to his transfer to the psychiatric infirmary of the police headquarters. According to our information, he had tested positive for alcohol and drugs. Toxicological analyses are continuing, the prosecutor’s office specifies. Several witnesses claim that he was driving at a high speed when he crashed into the restaurant, whose terrace was crowded.
The prosecution also confirmed that there were no passengers in the vehicle. Just after the incident, police sources had claimed that the man arrested was in fact the passenger. This turned out to be incorrect.
The investigation was initially opened in the evening for involuntary manslaughter, involuntary injuries by driver, and endangerment. The terrorist lead was quickly ruled out by investigators.
Source: www.20minutes.fr
