LONDON – A witness described seeing a motorcyclist swerve to avoid the wreckage of the car carrying Princess Diana moments after the fatal crash 10 years ago, according to a statement read Monday to a coroner's inquest jury.
Grigori Rassinier said he was driving through the Pont d'Alma tunnel in the opposite direction when he saw a motorcycle emerge from smoke that filled the tunnel after the Mercedes slammed into a pillar.
The motorcycle "swerved as if it were avoiding the crashed car," he said in the statement.
"This motorcycle left very quickly after having executed the swerve. ... It seems improbable that the motorcycle stopped before setting off again. I think that the motorcycle simply had time to slow down or to brake very hard."
The coroner's jury must decide how Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, died in the crash on Aug. 31, 1997. Their French driver, Henri Paul, also died.
Several witnesses have recalled seeing motorcycles pursuing the couple's car, though accounts have differed on how many bikes gave chase. Other witnesses did not recall seeing any motorcycles.
Some photographers were seen on motorcycles that night, and it is believed that Paul may have been trying to out-race them on a journey from the Ritz Hotel to Fayed's apartment.