Iris and Warren, killed on a scooter in 2022: one year in prison, adjustable for the ambulance driver

The driver of the ambulance at the origin of the accident which killed Iris and Warren, two teenagers on scooters in Lyon in 2022, was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prison, including one fixed term, convertible under an electronic bracelet, by the Lyon criminal court.

The man, now 40 years old, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter with the aggravating circumstance of “manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence”. When rendering her judgment, the president of the court highlighted “dangerous driving for other users”.

The sentence may be carried out at home under electronic monitoring of a bracelet. His driving license is canceled with a ban on retaking it for seven years. Finally, the court permanently banned him from practicing the profession of ambulance driver.

The prosecutor had requested a more severe sentence of four years in prison, one of which was closed, with a deferred committal warrant, that is to say, she requested his incarceration. The cancellation of his driving license was also requested with a ban on issuing it for 10 years, which is the maximum possible duration.

“Feeling of anger”, for the families of Iris and Warren

The two teenagers, Iris, 15, and Warren, 17, were mowed down around 6 p.m. while they were riding together on an electric scooter on a lane reserved for buses and unregistered two-wheelers. After reading the judgment, Warren's mother, Jessica Souchit, hand in hand with Iris's mother, confided "a feeling of anger" towards the duration of the license ban decided. “It’s the paramedic who is completely at fault. We find that the sentence is still light,” she told journalists.

“We have pain and sorrow every day and it will continue. We don’t want to leave only grief after this tragedy,” added Laure Cédat, mother of Iris. The two women mobilized throughout the investigation and the legal process and promise to continue their fight to punish more severely what has become since 2025 in the eyes of the law a “road homicide”.

“Today, we need to find penalties and sanctions that are adapted to the terminology,” asserted Laure Cédat. “The law must move today towards cancellations and definitive bans on being able to drive. It would seem proportionally appropriate,” echoed Me Florence Vincent, lawyer for the mother of the family.

During the trial last week, the prosecution considered that excessive speed was the cause of the accident caused by the paramedic. “It was up to him to pay attention to the scooter,” asserted the prosecutor, for whom the paramedic, who intervened urgently, “lacked prudence and moderation in the use of his right of priority”.

The accident occurred on August 22, 2022 around 6:00 p.m. on a usually busy route along the Saône. The two teenagers were hit by the private ambulance which was leaving for intervention, and which was authorized to travel on this road. Their death caused immense emotion in Lyon.