Perpetrator of multiple assault in Belgium was arrested for involuntary manslaughter

The driver of the car that hit a crowd celebrating carnival on Sunday in a city in southern Belgium was charged with manslaughter and jailed on Monday night, his lawyer told a local radio station on Tuesday.

The investigating judge thus accepted the thesis of an accident and not that of the deliberate act, as suggested by the opening of an investigation into homicide shortly after the incident.

The tragedy, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning in La Louvière, left six people dead, ten seriously injured and about twenty slightly injured.

The driver of the vehicle was only identified as Paolo F., a speed enthusiast who had already been revoked by local authorities in the past his driver's license.

In the early hours of Sunday, the car driven at full speed by Paolo F. — and which included a passenger — ran over a group of people dressed up to celebrate carnival, a traditional festival in that region of Belgium that had been canceled by the pandemic in the last two years.

According to his lawyer, the driver explained to investigators that he had not realized that he was speeding into a crowd.

“In a fraction of seconds he faced a tragedy (...) The windshield exploded, he himself filled with blood, because he hit his head on the windshield (...) he heard screams and beatings at his vehicle, nor did he imagine at that moment that he was at a carnival,” the lawyer, Frank Discepoli, told La Première radio.

For this reason, the lawyer said, “it is not a case of murder or deliberate assault, as required by the Prosecutor's Office.”

Paolo F. was arrested for wrongful death and involuntary injuries, while his passenger, a relative identified as Nino, was accused of failing to provide relief to people in danger, although he was released on bail.

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