Comedian Pierre Palmade, who tested positive for cocaine while driving, was involved on Friday evening February 10 in a serious road accident in Seine-et-Marne. An investigation is opened for “manslaughter and manslaughter”. “L’Obs” takes stock of the drama.
The accident
The accident took place on Friday February 10 around 7 p.m., on the D372, near Villiers-en-Bière, in the south of Seine-et-Marne. “From the first investigations carried out, it was found that a vehicle driven by the comedian Pierre Palmade would have collided head-on with a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction which was transporting a man and a pregnant woman, as well as a 6-year-old child”reported the prosecutor of Melun, Jean-Michel Bourlès.
The Peugeot 3008 vehicle that the comedian was driving swerved to the left of the lane, to hit almost frontally a Renault Megane which was traveling in the other direction. “A third vehicle would have hit that of this family, in the context of an additional accident”.
The pregnant woman and the driver, like Pierre Palmade, were transported by helicopter to the hospital. Their vital prognosis, and that of the 6-year-old child who was evacuated by road, were engaged in the evening. Pierre Palmade “was conscious when help arrived” according to the floor. He was admitted “in serious condition at the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital” And placed in the intensive care unit.
3 seriously injured, one fetus did not survive
The days of the 54-year-old actor and director are no longer in danger, his family announced in a press release to AFP. But in addition to the star comedian, the accident left three other seriously injured, including a child and a pregnant woman. This Saturday afternoon, the Melun prosecutor’s office indicated that the pregnant woman had lost her child, without further details on the condition of the other victims.
According to a source close to the investigation, this resident of Seine-et-Marne, aged around 30, was in the car hit in the opposite direction with her brother-in-law, the driver, and the son of the latter. , six years old.
An 80-year-old man was also slightly injured. He was in the third vehicle that hit the family car.
Cocaine and open investigation
Pierre Palmade tested positive for cocaine and substitute drugs, AFP learned this Saturday from a police source, confirming information from the “Parisian” that the driver of the other vehicle tested negative for drugs and alcohol. “Toxicological analyzes revealed that Pierre Palmade was driving under the influence of narcotics (cocaine)”prosecutor Jean-Michel Bourlès reported this Saturday.
An investigation has been opened for “homicide and involuntary injuries by driver resulting in total incapacity for work for more than three months” and entrusted to the Melun police station. According to “le Parisien”, the woman was more than six months pregnant and the prosecution considered that the fetus was viable. Relatives of Pierre Palmade “think of the people affected during this accident and await reassuring news”said his family.
According to a police source at AFP, witnesses reported that two passengers in their twenties in Pierre Palmade’s car had fled after the collision. Investigations are underway to confirm their presence, said the Melun prosecution. “We hope to hear from people quickly, hoping that they will get out of it without too serious consequences”told AFP a source close to the investigation.
Pierre Palmade, familiar face of TV
Father of a whole generation of comedians, Pierre Palmade has established himself as a figure of the one-man-show and private theatre. He is a familiar face on the small screen and has starred in a dozen movies.
With his bulging gaze, his pointed profile, his silhouette all in legs and arms, he conquered a large audience, chaining successes with his one-on-stage, his boulevard plays (” If we had to redo it “, “Peter and Son”, “The Comic”) and TV audience records (“The Runaways”, “The Great Restaurant”).
Companion of the night and his excesses, Pierre Palmade was sentenced in 1995 for cocaine consumption. In 2019, he was taken into custody for “use and acquisition of narcotics” after being falsely accused of rape.
At the end of the first confinement, he returned to the stage of the Théâtre du Marais in Paris to play there “Assume, damn it! ». An echo of his own life, he who never hid his long journey towards the acceptance of his homosexuality.
