After he caused, a week ago, a terrible traffic accident under the influence of cocaine abuse, the 54-year-old French comedian Pierre Balmad was charged yesterday with manslaughter, and he was placed under house arrest in a hospital, according to a judicial source.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Moulins, near Paris, which requested his temporary arrest, intends to challenge this decision, which was taken by an investigating judge, by placing Balmad under house arrest, with an electronic bracelet placed inside a drug addiction center in a hospital, according to the same source.
On the evening of February 10, a car driven by Pierre Balmad hit another vehicle that was traveling in the opposite direction, regarding 50 kilometers south of Paris.
The accident caused serious injuries to the three passengers in the second vehicle, a 38-year-old man, his six-year-old son, and his wife’s 27-year-old sister, who was seven months pregnant and lost her fetus due to the accident.
The man and his son were still in the hospital yesterday, in the recovery room, in critical condition, according to the public prosecutor in Moulins.
The comedian Pierre Balmad was also seriously injured in this incident.
Moulins’ public prosecutor, Jean-Michel Bourlis, said that Palmad “admitted that he had used cocaine and synthetic drugs before driving the car,” but indicated that he “does not remember anything specific regarding the circumstances of the accident.”
Pierre Balmade, widely known in France, had been convicted several times on drug charges. According to his sister, Eileen Balmad, the artist feels “ashamed” following the incident, and is willing to bear “the consequences of his actions.”
