The driver who crashed into a group of carnival participants in Strépy in Wallonia in 2022, killing six people, was traveling at 105 kilometers per hour at the time. This is evident from the expert report, which was leaked to the editors of RTL Info, to the anger of those involved.
The accident happened in the early hours of March 20, 2022. Many people were heading to the carnival on foot when a driver drove into the carnival crowd in Strépy-Bracquegnies. Six people were killed and about thirty others were injured.
On Thursday evening, the 300-page expert report that was drawn up after the facts at the request of the Justice Department was leaked. Based on surveillance images and scientific images, it was analyzed how fast driver Paolo Falzone drove on that fateful day. The accident happened between house numbers 140 and 162, according to the report, and at house number 100 the man is said to have been driving no less than 163 kilometers per hour. A little later he even reached 174 kilometers per hour. That is more than three times as much as the permitted 50 per hour. At the time of impact he was said to have been traveling at a speed of 105 kilometers per hour.
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If the driver had braked immediately when he saw the carnival participants, he would have been traveling at a speed of 34 kilometers per hour at the time of impact and would have come to a stop approximately 4 meters after the collision with the first pedestrian. Now he just slowed down, and thus did a lot more damage.
The victims’ lawyers refuse to respond to the contents of the report at RTL Info, but say they regret that it was leaked. “This is a possible violation of the secrecy of the investigation,” one of them said.
Falzone was arrested after the incident and has since been released, but he has an electronic ankle bracelet pending trial.
