A 50-year-old woman pushing her 90-year-old mother’s wheelchair in a park in the Faourette district of Toulouse was violently struck by a dirt bike in the mid-afternoon of Wednesday, March 13. She was hospitalized and operated on. An active search is underway for the driver.
Due to the good weather, two-wheelers are increasingly on the road and with it the excesses of some, who are unaware of the danger they pose to others. A 50-year-old woman paid the price in La Faourette park in Toulouse on Wednesday afternoon.
It was 4:30 PM and she was walking. She was pushing her 90-year-old mother, sitting in a wheelchair, and was with a friend on rue Jules-Amilhau when a dirt bike appeared. The pilot was launched and hit the small group head-on from behind. The fifty-year-old fell heavily to the ground. The woman accompanying him was also hit.
The 90-year-old pensioner was spared because she was standing in front of her daughter at the time of the collision.
Leg fractures
The man on the dirt bike didn’t ask for a rest. Instead of helping the victims, he fled and disappeared into thin air. Witnesses alerted the fire brigade who came to the aid of the injured.
The 50-year-old woman suffered broken legs and required surgery. She was taken to a hospital. The 62-year-old woman, who was less seriously affected, remained behind after treatment.
The police immediately started looking for the driver. One of the crew members who called for backup did not catch this man, but found 107 grams of cannabis resin and 84 grams of cannabis in a nearby hedge. However, the fugitive remained untraceable. An investigation has been opened.
Police officers countered
This is not an isolated case. On Tuesday, police officers were almost hit by the rider of a dirt bike, this time in the Soupetard district. While driving his unapproved vehicle, he forced a roadblock to be set up to intercept him. He rushed to the officials. He walked past them and continued on his way.
Victim of a mechanical failure, he had to stop. He was arrested at a home where he had forced open the gate. This 18-year-old man did not have a driver’s license, was driving under the influence of narcotics and was in possession of 5 grams of cocaine.
The prefect tightens the screw
These repeated threats encourage the prefecture to tighten the screw. This Thursday from 2 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., the police will be deployed in the Bagatelle and La Faourette neighborhoods. A decree has been published to “authorize the use of drones”.
The Prefect, Pierre-André Durand, notes: “In our department and in particular in the metropolitan area of Toulouse, a phenomenon of revival of urban rodeos is observed, causing accidents and increasing the feeling of insecurity of residents, users and traders in these neighborhoods and causing significant noise pollution.
The locations of rodeos are often kept secret until the last minute, and participants can practice dangerous driving behaviors, such as wheelies or excessive speeding, over long distances, even while pedestrians and other road users are on the road.
He did multiple rear wheels, nine months in prison!
A job, a fairly quiet life and a passion for rear wheels… A resident of the Toulouse region is celebrating his twentieth anniversary in detention this summer. The criminal court of Toulouse has just sentenced him to six months in prison, three of which are suspended with probation. But the court also revoked a suspended sentence that was imposed at the beginning of this year after already performing acrobatic exercises on two wheels (6 months suspended).
This motorcyclist will therefore spend a long time behind bars. The court also confiscated the motorcycle, although it was the official property of the driver’s father, and forbade this young man from driving a motorcycle. The gendarmes of the Departmental Road Safety Squadron, who made the arrest at the beginning of this week, underline the dangers of this acrobatics “for the perpetrator of the rear-wheel drive but especially for other road users”.