Paris: A troubled French comedian known for his struggles with drugs faces charges in France after causing a head-on collision outside Paris while driving under the influence of cocaine.
Pierre Palmade injured three people on Friday at around 7 pm when he hit a car travelling in the other direction, leaving a man, a six-year-old child, and a pregnant woman fighting for their lives.
The woman, who was more than six months pregnant, lost her baby, according to prosecutors.
The popular 54-year-old comedian, well known for his TV and theatre appearances, was admitted to intensive care himself but his condition has since stabilised.
"He's waking up little by little and is realising the horror of what has happened, what he caused," his sister Helene Palmade told AFP on Tuesday. "He's devastated, he's ashamed."
"He will accept all the consequences of his actions with the terrible knowledge that he can never repair the damage he has caused."
The entertainer is expected to be charged with driving under the influence of drugs and causing injuries by dangerous driving.
Reports of the crash and police investigation in the village of Villiers-en-Biereand, 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Paris, have dominated the French media since the weekend.
Two young men in their twenties -- said in some reports to be former male escorts -- fled from Palmade's car after the accident and were being actively sought by police.
The comedian was previously found guilty of taking cocaine in 1995 and was arrested again for a drugs offence in 2019.
