Witnesses to Diana’s Fatal Crash Reenact Scene Before French Judge
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PARIS — For the first time since the Paris auto accident that killed Diana, princess of Wales, last Aug. 31, all but one of the known witnesses to the midnight crash appeared Friday to reenact the scene before a French investigating judge.
The extraordinary daylong proceeding, behind closed gates at the Paris Palace of Justice, drew the nine photographers and one motorcycle driver who are under investigation on manslaughter charges. They have been accused of possibly provoking the accident by chasing the Mercedes that carried Diana, her friend Dodi Fayed, the chauffeur and a bodyguard.
Only the bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the crash against an unprotected pylon of an underpass. Judge Herve Stephan allowed Rees-Jones, who is recovering in Britain, to be excused from the proceeding.
The photographers are also being investigated for failing to give assistance to the victims under a French Good Samaritan statute that carries heavier penalties than manslaughter, or involuntary homicide.
The photographers have not been formally charged with any crime; Stephan’s investigation is to determine whether any of them should stand trial.
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