The fatal incident occurred on Wednesday at the Orléans Center toll exit shortly before 6pm, according to multiple news reports in France.
Orleans Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed that the driver whose actions caused the death has been charged with manslaughter and committing a hit and run.
France Bleu Orléans reports that the two truck drivers had been seen overtaking each other several times, during which time their vehicles made contact. The dispute between the drivers then came to a head after the tollgates, when a slight collision damaged the rearview mirror of one of the trucks.
French newspaper La République du Center writes that at this point, one of the drivers, a 40-year-old man from Aurillac, got out of his vehicle to explain his view of the accident to the other driver, who comes from Pas-de-Calais. The driver who had disembarked from his truck was then run over by the other truck driver, as confirmed by Orlean’s Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“One was at the wheel of his vehicle and the other had disembarked from his cabin. The latter was knocked down by the former and died of his injuries despite being treated by firefighters,” said Emmanuelle Bochenek-Puren, the Public Prosecutor of Orleans.
The driver who caused the fatal incident was arrested shortly before 7pm on Wednesday and was still in custody as of Thursday afternoon.
An investigation is being carried out in order to establish all the circumstances that led to the fatal incident.
Photo: Tabl-trai, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
