The prosecution announced four months ago that a trial should begin shortly. But many open questions remain, namely about the support offered to surviving dependants.
Sandra Reiland, the widow of the killed policeman, is still struggling to get used to her new reality. She feels let down by the alleged big police family. No one, not the minister or the police directorate, has offered support. A psychologist was present when she found out about her husband's death, but that was the last she heard from an official side. Only the families of the other police officers involved in the accident are there to help each other out.
Nor did she receive any support navigating complex issues such as her widow's pension, which is still pending until the trial has clarified who was at fault. The union CGFP has now stepped in to help.
"It is sad that you are left alone with all this", says Sandra Reiland. She hopes the police will introduce a service to assist loved ones of officers who die in service, as is offered by the army.
She was also disappointed by the decision not to honour her husband on National Day 2019. Two weeks before the event, she received a phone call telling her "your husband can't be honoured", citing the pending trial. Incomprehensible, she says, when her husband died in service of the country.
The question of who is at fault is less important to her. "There were many circumstances contributing to the tragic accident," she says. She does not want to pass judgment on what happened. She went public in the hopes that next time something like this happens, no one will be left alone like she was.
