France’s Homeland Security
A driver in the southern French city of Montpellier received a three-month
suspended jail sentence after he tried to run down a pedestrian he thought
was Osama bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, AFP
reports.
The 35-year-old man, identified as Pierre, pursued his victim and drove
through a red light as he attempted to hit him with his car. Luckily, the
intended target was able to run from the oncoming car, which crashed along
the side of a street.
Pierre’s lawyer, David Mendel, said his client was overtaken by a
“delirious flush” caused by recent international events and was the
“victim of a hallucination” while driving through Montpellier’s historic
centre.
The court fined Pierre 500 euros in damages and ordered that he get
medical help. “If it was bin Laden, we would have won $5 million,” Mendel
said, referring to a reward on offer for the al-Qaida leader’s capture.