The moving scene takes place a few minutes before the trial of the man who turned their fate upside down, one snowy day in January.
Claire, 39, nailed to her wheelchair, stiff in her imposing corset, manages to get up for a few moments to hug Annie, Jacques' widow.
It is the septuagenarian that this paramedic was transporting this Saturday, January 16, 2021, when she crossed paths with Florian V., a 36-year-old entrepreneur from Taverny (Val-d'Oise).
Drunk and without a license, he crashed into Claire's Ford Tournéo on the D228, near Boutigny, seriously injuring her and killing Jacques, 78, the patient she was driving to Meaux hospital for dialysis.
"Above all, do not feel guilty", said Annie to Claire.
Tried this Friday afternoon by the Meaux Criminal Court, Florian V. was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, including eighteen months suspended sentence, with a warrant of committal.
Before the start of the hearing, the two victims crossed paths for the first time since the accident.
The emotion is strong.
“He didn't realize anything, it was too fast.
He died instantly, ”Claire confides to Annie, who inquired about the last moments of the life of the man with whom she had been married for more than 51 years.
Florian V. had just left Saint-Leu (Val-d'Oise) driving his Peugeot Expert, "after paying for the champagne".
DR
“Above all, do not feel guilty, Annie assures Claire.
Take care of yourself to get back to your child as soon as possible.
»Fracture of the knee, femur, wrist, back, triple neck fracture, the list of injuries has something to impress.
Within a month, Claire should be able to leave the Montévrain clinic and hopes to be able to resume her work in September.
"We will see if he will look us in the eyes and apologize", slip the two women, before entering the courtroom.
In police custody four days before the accident
In the box, Florian actually begins by asking forgiveness from the victims.
Questioned relentlessly by the president, Emmanuelle Teyssandier-Igna, the entrepreneur must remember this Saturday when he left the market of Saint-Leu (Val-d'Oise) at the wheel of his Peugeot Expert, "after paying for the champagne and the galette ”.
In fact, he admits having drunk about ten cups and still had a blood alcohol level of 1.7 grams per liter of alcohol in his blood after the accident.
He returns to his companion in Coulommiers.
In a curve, he loses control and crashes into the ambulance which is coming in front.
Four days before the accident, the thirty-something was released from police custody, after having been arrested the day before in a state of intoxication on leaving a construction site ...
"But what's going on in your head to get behind the wheel?"
“, Asks the president, who underlines that the defendant has already been convicted twice for driving under the influence of an alcoholic state.
“It's unbearable to see so many lives destroyed.
"Opposite, Florian V. stammers:" I don't know.
The only solution is for me to take the alcohol out of my life.
"
Florian V. "pays for his bad choices"
Me Vincent Julé-Parade, the lawyer for the civil parties, criticized Florian's “voluntary choices” and its dramatic consequences.
"You have deprived this woman of the joy of growing old with her husband," he told the accused.
"The only answer is prison," hammered Alma Laplace, the deputy prosecutor, who requested a four-year prison sentence, including one year suspended.
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Granting "a beginning of reflection" on the part of the defendant, she nevertheless recalled his statements during the hearings before the gendarmes, where he said he had lost control because of the snow.
Me Ariane Lachenaud, lawyer Florian V., made every effort to underline the “extreme guilt” of his client, who “takes responsibility for his actions” and “also pays for his bad choices”.
"We feel invincible as long as we have not committed the irreparable," she pleaded.
