Driver given suspended sentence after hitting nine-year-old in Côtes-d’Armor

A 43-year-old driver was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended, after hitting a nine-year-old boy in Merdrignac, in France’s Côtes-d’Armor, in May 2026.

She had been drinking several beers before driving, and her alcohol level was close to two grams when police arrested her.

The crash happened on 1 May, while a local football club was celebrating its 100th anniversary and many people were nearby.

Her car mounted the pavement and struck the boy from behind, causing a head injury and two fractures in his left leg.

The driver continued home without stopping, while a witness followed her and called the gendarmes, France’s national police force.

At her trial in Saint-Brieuc, she accepted responsibility but said she had not realised she had caused an accident; the boy’s mother said the driver had never apologised.

The court handed down a suspended sentence, and no further action is stated.