Well-known French humorist Pierre Palmade caused a serious traffic accident while using cocaine and organizing a “chemsex” party at his home.
• Also read: [TÉMOIGNAGES] When crystal meth rhymes with sex
Last Friday, the comedian’s car collided head-on with another vehicle carrying a six-month pregnant woman who has since lost her baby. A third vehicle then rammed into the other person involved in the accident.
As Le Parisien reports, the first elements of the investigation seem to point to the responsibility of Pierre Palmade, who obtained a positive result for cocaine, among other things.
AFP
According to witnesses, there were two people in his vehicle, probably in their 20s. They have reportedly fled and are actively wanted by the police.
A preliminary investigation into manslaughter and negligent bodily harm was initiated on Saturday.
An evening with “Chemsex”
In the hours before the accident, Pierre Palmade would have held an evening of “Chemsex” at his home.
“Chemsex” is the fact that drugs, mostly crystal meth but also GHB or ketamine, are used during sexual relationships, mostly between men,” 24 hours explained last December.
Photo Fotolia
This practice, which has many supporters in Montreal, is still little known in Quebec and France.
However, according to the 2019 report by the French Observatory on Drugs and Drug Addiction, 14% of men who have sex with men said they had practiced “chemsex” in the past year.
In France, too, voices are calling on the government to take action against “chemsex”.
LGBTQI+ Têtu magazine, for example, believes that “there is insufficient public awareness of the health problem created by the development of chemsex – which is now beginning to spread outside of the gay community”.
The accident also lifted the veil on the fallen star’s shattered personal life, who had struggled with consumption problems for many years.
What does the comedian risk?
Could comedian Pierre Palmade be charged with manslaughter for manslaughter?
In France, Article 221-6 of the Penal Code confirms that “causing the death of another by clumsiness, carelessness, inattention, negligence or breach of a duty of care or safety imposed by law or regulation constitutes homicide”.
So this story is about the question of whether a fetus after more than 6 months of gestation can be considered a person.
AFP
According to a ruling by the Court of Cassation – Canada’s equivalent of the Supreme Court – in the early 2000s, only a live-born baby can be considered a person.
In 2014, however, a French court tried unsuccessfully to treat one fetus as another.
In the Palmade case, the autopsy must determine whether the child lived outside the womb. “The doctors will check whether, for example, the child was breathing when the child was extracted, whether there were signs of life or not,” explains France Info.
The actor could then be charged with manslaughter and faces up to 10 years in prison and around $215,000 in fines if the aggravating circumstances persist.
One thing’s for sure, this affair never fails to make headlines, so voices are being raised to treat the star the same as the rest.
In a statement from his sister to AFP, Pierre Palmade assures that he is ready to face all the consequences of his actions. He also said he was ashamed and apologized to the victims.
Comedian Pierre Palmade, who was hospitalized on Friday after a serious traffic accident while under the influence of cocaine, is ashamed and “will take all the consequences of his actions,” his sister said in a statement sent to the#AFP pic.twitter.com/rb1SFsckDB
– Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) February 14, 2023
− With information from AFP