Driver in market attack was drunk
Print Edition
A MAN who rammed his car into a Christmas market in France, killing one person and injuring nine others, had nearly four times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, a police source said yesterday.
The 37-year-old was found to have a blood alcohol reading of 0.18 in his system after the attack on Monday in the western city of Nantes. The legal limit in France is 0.05.
He remained in hospital under police surveillance, having stabbed himself several times after driving his white van into the crowd.
The incident was one of three in as many days that have left France reeling and fearing a wave of attacks, possibly by Islamic jihadists. But the government said they were not linked.
The attacks did, however, spur authorities to send 300 soldiers on to the streets.
The spate of violence began last Saturday when a man with a knife attacked three police officers in the central town of Joue-les-Tours while shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).
The 20-year-old was shot dead and two police officers were seriously injured.
On Sunday, a man ploughed into pedestrians in Dijon, injuring 13 people while also shouting the same Islamic phrase. The 40-year-old was reported to have a long history of mental illness, but no ties to jihadist groups.
Nonetheless the attacks have frayed nerves at a time when France has been repeatedly threatened by the Islamic State group.
Nantes prosecutor Brigitte Lamy said the market attacker’s mental state appeared to have “deteriorated these past weeks.”
He lived alone, she said, adding that a notebook in his car contained “confused” remarks about his “hatred of society” and “risk of being killed by the secret service.”
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