A 65-year-old truck driver, prosecuted for manslaughter after overturning and killing at the wheel of his heavyweight a "yellow vest" at the Passage d'Agen (Lot-et-Garonne), during the beginnings of the movement in December 2018 , was sentenced Friday in Agen to a four-year suspended prison sentence.

The Agen Criminal Court also sentenced the trucker to the cancellation of his driving license.

Five years in prison, four of which were suspended, had been requested.

"Yellow vests" intervened, signaled him to stop

On December 20, 2018, "yellow vests" partially blocked traffic near a roundabout where they had been meeting for more than a month.

They had obtained reinforcement from "yellow vests" from Villeneuve-sur-Lot where the 60-year-old victim was from, because the police had to dislodge them.

The driver, blocked by cars, seeing a free way, had moved to the left.

He told the hearing, held on Friday, that he was not driving fast but "in jerks because of the automatic gearbox".

"Yellow vests" intervened, signaled to him to stop.

He himself waved them away, he said, two did but the third tripped without the driver seeing him.

"A regret that I will have for life" expresses the driver

At the helm, the defendant, also prosecuted for endangering the lives of others, assured that he “would never recover.

I regret having bereaved a family without having wanted to.

It is a regret that I will have for life.

I don't know how to apologize to the family.

I didn't see the person at all (…) I panicked”.

According to his lawyers, the defendant had no criminal record, 40 years of experience and 12 points on his driving license before the tragedy.

"It's an accident that could have happened to anyone," said Virginie Belacel after the decision, "he's a man who is condemned by the courts but who is morally condemned for life.

Since the facts, he is a devastated man who will never recover from what happened.

"It's hard to say it's an accident"

According to the prosecutor, “the drama that unfolded that day was first and foremost the drama of a bad decision.

He could have taken another route.

There is also a wrong action, he crossed a solid line.

There were three people in front of him, two threw themselves backwards but the victim tripped.”

Lawyer for a civil party, Me Sophie Lagarde spoke of the victim, "close to his family and friends", "he was someone who did not have a lot of money but who was extremely generous, who was of all the fights that seemed fair to him.

Me Anne-Claire Bonner-Brissaud, lawyer for the victim's children, said she was “not sure that the family had all the answers today.

It's hard to say it's an accident when you talk about the disappearance of someone in these circumstances.

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  • Aquitaine

  • Agen

  • yellow vests

  • Justice

  • Accident

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