He thought to brake and finally hit his wife, according to the first elements of the investigation.
A woman died on Thursday after being struck by a car driven by her husband in Dommartin-lès-Toul, a small town of 2,000 inhabitants in Meurthe-et-Moselle, reports L'Est Républicain.
The driver allegedly confused the brake pedal with that of the accelerator.
The drama unfolded at lunchtime. The 65-year-old victim initially behind the wheel parked on a sidewalk in direct sunlight before getting out of the automatic vehicle. Two of his nieces in the back also got out of the car, before heading to a nearby restaurant. The husband who until then occupied the passenger seat then wanted to move the car a few meters to a more shaded place, reports the regional daily.
The man then got behind the wheel, before starting to reverse in a semicircle.
After seeing his wife in the rearview mirror, he would have pressed violently on a pedal thinking to brake.
But unfortunately he would have engaged the accelerator pedal of the vehicle, thus hitting his wife.
The sixty-year-old died almost instantly.
A police investigation was opened.
The accidental trail, based on the husband's statements, is privileged, according to the Actu site.
