High-Speed Chase on French Highway Ends in Fiery Crash at Toll Booth

The events took place on Friday, March 19, on the A62 near Labastide-Saint-Pierre in Tarn-et-Garonne. The departmental road safety squadron (EDSR) recorded a speed of 182 km/h (172 km/h retained) on a 250 hp Volkswagen Golf belonging to a company based in Gironde, in the Paris-Toulouse direction, reports La Dépêche du Midi. On board the rapid intervention vehicle (VRI), a 300 hp Mégane RS, the gendarmes of the PMO managed to catch up, at first, the vehicle with flashing lights on. The driver, a 24-year-old Algerian, does not stop. He accelerates before being caught up again.

He refuses to comply. As he was near the Saint-Jory exit on the highway in Haute-Garonne, he brakes sharply, rushes out of the highway, before ending up on the side of the road near the toll booth. The gendarmes apprehend the driver and his passenger, both residents of Toulouse. Meanwhile, the car caught fire. The origin of this fire is the brake calipers completely stuck on the brake discs following the emergency braking. The gendarmes were unable to extinguish the fire until the arrival of the firefighters, Vinci Autoroutes agents and reinforcements from the Toulouse PMO. After their arrest, the suspects were taken into custody.