Involved in a violent road accident in Reunion on the night of Friday to Saturday 24 August, and referred to the criminal court of Saint-Denis for several serious traffic offences, the Reunion MP Jean-Hugues Ratenon (La France insoumise) denounces a “Media exploitation for an attempted political assassination.”
The elected official accuses local authorities of having leaked information, published on Wednesday by The chained duck. According to the satirical weekly, Ratenon refused, claiming to be protected by his parliamentary immunity, to submit to police checks to see if he had consumed alcohol and drugs. A mandatory procedure in the event of an accident. Jean-Hugues Ratenon denies this and says “totally shocked by the pseudo-information published,” statement, Wednesday 28, the MP’s office, which questions: “Who feeds The chained duck And for what purpose? »
The accident occurred shortly after half past midnight on a four-lane national road. The officer’s car was hit from behind by a motorist travelling at an estimated speed of 70 km/h, according to police reports. He was unable to avoid the officer’s vehicle, which was dangerously in the right lane with all its lights off. After the impact, the slightly injured driver said she found Jean-Hugues Ratenon asleep at the wheel of his car.
A week after the collision, the preliminary investigation by the motorcycle squad of the Réunion gendarmerie has revealed the MP’s responsibilities. According to the procedure, Jean-Hugues Ratenon refused to take alcohol and saliva samples, as well as the blood test requested by the gendarmes when he was summoned, but he never invoked his parliamentary immunity.
“I have an 86-year-old mother and my children”
According to the elected official, it was because he was “in shock” of the accident and that he “I didn’t feel well” that he did not want to undergo the controls. A judicial source indicates that the deputy had “confusing, eruptive and dismissive behavior” in front of the gendarmes who interrogated him while he was in the emergency room. The latter, as well as the doctor on duty, noted that the elected official showed symptoms of severe alcoholism.
Jean-Hugues Ratenon left the emergency room at Saint-Denis University Hospital during the night and was treated by one of his colleagues. Contacted by phone, Jean-Hugues Ratenon denies having drunk that night. “I had taken four pills for high blood pressure and these medications are not compatible with alcohol”says World. According to him, it is “discomfort, perhaps related to [son] hypertension”, which caused the accident.
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