A 19-year-old man from Marseille who was driving a French-registered car involved in a fatal accident in Oslo last week has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and jailed for recklessness. He claims he was simply unfamiliar with driving in winter weather.
The accident occurred in a rotary at Lodalen on Oslo’s east side last Sunday evening. The two passengers in the car included a 23-year-old woman, also from Marseille, and her French boyfriend. The woman was killed in the collision with an Oslo city bus, while her boyfriend was badly injured and remained in hospital late last week.
Newspaper Aftenposten’s local edition for Oslo reported that the driver was ordered held in custody for at least four weeks while police continue to investigate the accident. His car was not equipped with winter tires and witnesses said he was driving at a high speed when he hit the bus in the rotary intersection.
“The driver is charged with vehicular manslaughter because he played a role in the passenger’s death, since he was driving recklessly,” Knut Nysæter of the Oslo Police District told Aftenposten. “Since the driver is French and was in Norway for a short period, he’s being held in custody because of the possibility he’ll try to skip charges.”
The driver has been assigned a defense attorney, who needed an interpreter to communicate with his client.
newsinenglish.no staff
