The police had seen his Renault Mégane swerve on the main road.
And for good reason: Maurice
(first name has been changed
) was drunk.
But impossible for them to know his blood alcohol level, the young man – aged 28 – refused to blow into the breathalyzer.
It was on the night of January 27 to 28, on the RN2, in Saint-Mard.
The time for explanations had come for Maurice, judged this Monday by the Meaux criminal court, for "driving a motor vehicle despite the injunction to return the driving license resulting from the withdrawal of all the points, driving in a state of of obvious intoxication, refusal to submit to alcohol tests and fingerprints.”
The defendant, in pre-trial detention since the end of January, constantly claimed at the hearing that he had not been assisted by a lawyer during his custody.
Complicated custody
While recognizing his faults: “I knew that my driving license was cancelled.
I was cold, I had the reflex to turn on the car to be warm.”
That night, Maurice drank vodka with friends.
It is an understatement to say that his custody in the premises of the Dammartin-en-Goële gendarmerie brigade was eventful.
“You did not want to be heard by the gendarmes, you tried to close the cell door, you lay down on the ground.
I have rarely seen this.
Do you think we can clown around in front of the police?
», asked President Isabelle Verissimo.
Response from the person concerned: “I felt bad because I had been drinking.
I fell on the ground ".
Reading his criminal record – with ten convictions, including four for traffic offenses – was a perilous moment for Maurice.
“You were on probation with the obligation to follow a road safety awareness course.
And you were waiting for semi-release,” underlined the magistrate.
Recalling that 3,402 people died on the roads of France in 2023, prosecutor Noémie Béguin requested six months in prison, with a committal warrant, as well as the revocation of an additional six months in prison, pronounced during a previous conviction.
“The risk of causing a fatal accident is multiplied by 17.8 with an alcoholic driver,” recalled the prosecutor.
The judges handed down a sentence of six months in prison, with a warrant of committal, as well as the revocation of an additional four months.
He was imprisoned after the hearing.