David, 47, was driving his car with a level of 1.1 mg of alcohol per liter of exhaled air. He was found asleep in his car on the A8 motorway emergency lane last Thursday.
However, his driver’s license was suspended due to a previous conviction for … drunk driving.
In April, he was already due to appear in court for having taken the wheel with a rate of 1.34 mg. “Three times the tort rate” , notes Alain Chemama, the president of the Nice Criminal Court. With his Honda car, the intemperate driver had run into another car while maneuvering. The victim had alerted the police as the clumsy motorist staggered dangerously.
Temporary in electricity, David, originally from Reunion, finds himself in a dead end. Even before his appearance before the Nice justice, he is under the threat of nine months in prison as part of a probationary suspension.
“With such a high alcohol content, it would be hard to keep our eyes open” , underlines the prosecutor Clémence Bravais who counts seven convictions since 2002. The magistrate requires, one year of imprisonment to which she asks to add 4 months of revocation of a suspended sentence.
In defense, Me Pazzano, portrayed “A man who does not balk at the task registered in five temp agencies. Not an idle, registered in five agencies. You have to take that to his credit.”
After several warnings and treatment orders which have clearly remained ineffective, the court is this time inflexible: the motorist is sentenced to a significant sentence, two years in prison, of which fifteen months must be completed immediately and three years of probationary suspension. His license is canceled for two years.
“We decided to put you aside so that you cease to be dangerous for yourself and for others”, explains President Alain Chemama. “You put yourself in danger but also the lives of others in great danger, continues the magistrate. I guess I’m not the first to tell you, given your criminal record. When will it stop? When you have killed someone? It can all end in carnage. If you drink and stay in your room, it’s not the same as getting behind the wheel. “
“I don’t have a logical explanation. There are times when I falter and I no longer have the ability to reason”, remarks the defendant.
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