The police are in mourning. Three officials from the Roubaix police station were killed in a road accidentSunday, May 21, near Villeneuve-d’Ascq (North). The driver of the oncoming vehicle that hit them also died in the crash. His passenger was seriously injured, as was a 16-year-old girl who was in the police car. While thehe prosecution has opened an investigation for homicide and involuntary injuries, the prosecutor of Lille, Carole Etienne, held a press conference on Monday. Here is what we know about the victims and the progress of the investigation.

An Alpha Romeo driving in the opposite direction, at “120 km / h”, on the RD 700

It’s around 7 a.m. on Sunday when three police officers roll over. the RD 700, near Villeneuve-d’Ascq. They take a 16 year old girl “to the medico-judicial unit (UMJ) of Lille to have her examined urgently for acts of personal injury denounced during the night”, explained the prosecutor. In the front, two 25-year-old police officers, and in the back their 24-year-old colleague, as well as the young girl. They are violently rammed by an Alpha Romeo “committed against the flow of its traffic lane”continued the magistrate, specifying that “THE first elements confirm the hypothesis of a frontal impact”.

A “accident expertise” was launched “in order to reproduce the circumstances” of the accident, “trajectories” et “vehicle speed”. The cAlpha Romeo’s speedometer is “stuck just below 120 km/h”, added the prosecutor, specifying that the limit was 90 km / h. The speed of the police vehicle could not, at this stage, be established. “To our knowledge (…) there was no fault committed by the police”said the Minister of the Interior on Monday morning after a visit to the Roubaix police station.

The police crew “circulated normally with a flashing light”, had abounded the director general of the national police, Frédéric Veaux.

The driver tested positive for alcohol and cannabis and known to the police

According to blood samples taken, the driver of the Alpha Romeo presented “a blood alcohol level of 2.08 grams” per liter and was “cannabis positive”confirmed Carole Etienne, specifying that“a cross-examination” had been “asked to stabilize these results”. Samples were also taken from police officers but the results will be released once the driver has been identified.

According to “first checks”the driver of the car traveling in the opposite direction was “not on the phone”added the prosecutor, noting that this 24-year-old man had “already been sentenced for common law offenses but not for traffic offences”.

The investigations will in particular be based on video surveillance cameras to “up the activity of this vehicle since the beginning of the night”.

The two injured, including one with a vital prognosis, could not be heard

The young girl that the police were taking to the UMJ was seriously injured. His health “did not allow to hear it” but the prosecutor did not report a vital prognosis. “DAs soon as the police allow us to hear her, she will be heard”, she said. On the other hand, the passenger of the Alpha Romeo, 23 years old, was transported to Lille hospital “in absolute vital emergency” et “his vital prognosis remains engaged”.

“It appears from the testimony of the firefighter” who helped him after the accident “that he was insulted” by this passenger, who “refused to say his name” .

A national tribute will be paid to the three young police officers

According France 3 Hauts-de-Francethe three young peacekeepers, Manon, 24, Paul and Steven, 25, were working in the same police emergency unitthe police station of Roubaix. “Life was ahead of them”underlined Gérald Darmanin, referring to “this pregnant woman who will not be able to present her future child to her dad” or “this child who will be one year old and who will not know his father”.

“A national tribute was decreed by the President of the Republic”, announced the Minister of the Interior. It will be returned by the end of the week in Roubaix and chaired by Gérald Darmanin. Objective, according to the Minister of the Interior: “That in all the police stations in France, in all the gendarmerie brigades, in all the prefectures and sub-prefectures and for all those who wish it in all the town halls of France, we can have a thought for these three young police officers.”